Information management system for product ingredients

ABSTRACT

A system generates a first layer of information that includes in combination information from the product label and attributes determined from the information from the product label but not listed on the product label. The system also generates a second layer of information that populates the second layer of information with information from the first layer of information, receives changes to the second layer of information from one of the retailer and the brand owner associated with the populated information from the first layer of information, and publishes the second layer of information with the changes from one of the retailer and the brand owner to the portion of the electronic label. The system accepts changes from one of the retailer and the brand owner to the second layer of information and prevents changes to the first layer of information from one of the retailer and the brand owner.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a bypass continuation-in-part ofInternational Application PCT/US17/46348, filed Aug. 10, 2017, entitledInformation Management System for Product Ingredients, which claimspriority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/468,408, filed Mar. 8,2017, entitled Information Management System for Product Ingredients;and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/372,958, filed Aug. 10, 2016,entitled Information Management System for Product Ingredients. Thisapplication cross-references U.S. Non-provisional application Ser. No.15/466,029, filed Mar. 22, 2017, entitled Information Management Systemfor Product Ingredients; U.S. Non-provisional application Ser. No.15/466,059, filed Mar. 22, 2017, entitled Information Management Systemfor Product Ingredients; and U.S. Non-provisional application Ser. No.15/466,091, filed Mar. 22, 2017, entitled “Information Management Systemfor Product Ingredients. The above-captioned applications are herebyincorporated by reference as if set forth herein in their entirety.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to an information management computingsystem and related network computing systems for automaticallycapturing, analyzing, and manipulating product information, such as forfood products, including an omnibus ingredient detection system thatautomatically detects and deconstructs information typically displayedon the labels of products.

BACKGROUND

A typical food package contains various information, includinginformation about amounts of various ingredients and other information,such as marketing claims, certification information, and the like.However, ingredient text on the packaging can be long and highlycomplex, and many different words can be used to identify the sameingredient or set of ingredients. Ingredients contained in lists arequite frequently nearly incomprehensible to an average consumer, andingredient lists, marketing claims, and other text can also includeconfusing statements such as and/or statements, compound andparenthetical listings, and even somewhat opaque terms like “containsnatural flavors.” The product packaging includes many other graphics andtext that can be more helpful or more confusing to the consumer.Moreover, the product packaging and labeling can vary greatly betweenmanufacturers and retailers, resulting in differing label formats andingredient information that can make it difficult to compare across theproducts from different manufacturers. Ingredients are also difficult tomanage for manufacturers themselves, who may not understand whatstatements they can make that comply with regulatory requirements,requirements of certification, and advertising regulations. As a resultof the complexity and obscurity of ingredient information, manufacturersand retailers may not fully understand competitive products, so it canbe difficult to understand how products should be positioned relative tothird party products. Regulators may also find it difficult to confirmcompliance. Accordingly, the inventors have recognized a need forimproved systems and technology for managing ingredient information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The many aspects of the present disclosure and how they may beimplemented in practice are described below by way of non-limitingexamples and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an ingredient detection system having aningredient data management platform including a technology stack inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of the ingredient data management platform of theingredient detection system and its intake of a label of a product intothe ingredient data management platform in accordance with the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C and 3D are partial diagrams that form together anexemplary ingredient data management platform and computing environmentof the ingredient detection system that receives information from thelabel of the product in accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an exemplary image capturing computing system inaccordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of an exemplary technology stack for obtainingconstituent information and providing master attributes and additionalinformation to views, APIs, and search systems in accordance with thepresent disclosure.

FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C are diagrams of exemplary publisher modules in theingredient data management platform that include a first layer ofinformation and a second layer of information whose information iscombined into a published layer of information viewable in an electronicview in accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of an exemplary harmonizer module in the ingredientdata management platform that includes many layers of informationcombined into a published layer of information viewable in an electronicview in accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a diagram of an exemplary harmonizer module in the ingredientdata management platform that includes many layers of informationdepicted as information branches with subsequent versions of theinformation being additional nodes on the information branches inaccordance with the present disclosure.

SUMMARY

In many aspects, a system for a retailer or a brand owner to publish aportion of an electronic label for view by a user that containsadditional information beyond what is set forth on a product label of aproduct associated with the retailer or the brand owner generallyincludes an ingredient data management platform that generates a firstlayer of information that includes in combination information from theproduct label and attributes determined from the information from theproduct label but not listed on the product label. The system alsoincludes a publisher module of the ingredient data management platformthat generates a second layer of information, that populates the secondlayer of information with information from the first layer ofinformation, that is configured to receive changes to the second layerof information from the retailer or the brand owner associated with thepopulated information from the first layer of information, and thatpublishes the second layer of information with the changes from theretailer or the brand owner to the portion of the electronic label. Thepublisher module is configured to accept changes from the retailer orthe brand owner to the second layer of information and prevent changesto the first layer of information from the retailer or the brand owner.

In the many aspects, the publisher module publishes the second layer ofinformation with the changes from the retailer or the brand owner to theportion of the electronic label that hide a portion of the informationfrom the first layer of information from view in the electronic label.

In the many aspects, the publisher module publishes the second layer ofinformation with the changes from the retailer or the brand owner to theportion of the electronic label that include additional informationrelative to the information from the first layer of information.

In the many aspects, the publisher module publishes the second layer ofinformation with the changes from the retailer or the brand owner to theportion of the electronic label that hide a portion of the informationfrom the first layer of information from view in the electronic labeland that include additional information relative to the information fromthe first layer of information.

In the many aspects, the publisher module is configured to publishimmediately to the electronic label the second layer of information at arequest of the retailer or the brand owner.

In the many aspects, the publisher module is configured to publish tothe electronic label the second layer of information when the retaileror the brand owner obtains a pre-determined number of approvals.

In the many aspects, the ingredient data management platform generatesthe first layer of information based on multiple product labelsincluding information common to each of the multiple product labels. Thepublisher module is configured to receive changes to the second layer ofinformation about one of the multiple product labels from the retaileror the brand owner. The publisher module publishes the second layer ofinformation with the changes to all of the multiple product labels basedon the changes associated with one of the multiple product labels.

In the many aspects, the publisher module of the ingredient datamanagement platform is configured to receive the changes to the secondlayer of information and configured to track and maintain a ledger ofthe changes from which a previous version of the second layer ofinformation is accessible

In the many aspects, the portion of the electronic label is configuredto provide information related to a SmartLabel brand label.

In the many aspects, the electronic label is accessible from a mobiledevice that is selected from a group consisting of at least one of asmartphone, a handheld scanner, a kiosk by the consumer, a wearable, anda computer.

In the many aspects, the portion of the electronic label is alsoconfigured to display serving size information. The serving sizeinformation is selected from a group consisting of at least one of areference amount customarily consumed, a user-adjustable weight perserving, 100 grams of weight per serving, and a recommended dailyallowance.

In the many aspects, the product having the product label is selectedfrom a group consisting of at least one of foods; beverages; consumerpackaged goods; personal items; pet care products; clothing; toys forchildren; lawn care products; window stickers for vehicles; heating,ventilation, air conditioning products; and bedding products.

In the many aspects, a system to harmonize a portion of an electroniclabel for view by a user that contains additional information beyondwhat is set forth on a product label of a product associated with theretailer or the brand owner generally includes an ingredient datamanagement platform that generates a first layer of information thatincludes in combination information from the product label andattributes determined from the information from the product label butnot listed on the product label. The system also includes a harmonizermodule of the ingredient data management platform that generates asecond layer of information, that populates the second layer ofinformation with information from the first layer of information, thatis configured to receive at least a third layer of information includinginformation about the product associated with the product label, andthat publishes the second layer of information in cooperation with thethird layer of information including a portion of the third layerinformation that is additional relative to the second layer ofinformation. The harmonizer module is configured to prevent changes tothe first layer of information from at least one of the user, theretailer, and the brand owner.

In the many aspects, the harmonizer module is configured to receive aplurality of layers of information including information about theproduct associated with the product label. The harmonizer module isconfigured to publish the second layer of information in cooperationwith the plurality of layers of information including a portion of theplurality of layers of information that is additional relative to thesecond layer of information and a portion of the plurality of layers ofinformation that replaces a portion of the second layer of information.

In the many aspects, a portion of the plurality of layers of informationis configured to replace a portion of the second layer of information.

In the many aspects, the third layer of information is associated withinformation from one of a global data synchronization network, a digitalasset management system, ingredient supply chain data, and productinformation management data.

In the many aspects, the system further includes a publisher module ofthe ingredient data management platform that generates an additionallayer of information, that populates the additional layer of informationwith information from the third layer of information, that is configuredto receive changes to the additional layer of information from theretailer or the brand owner associated with the populated informationfrom the third layer of information, and that publishes the additionallayer of information with the changes from the retailer or the brandowner to a portion of an electronic label. The publisher module isconfigured to accept changes from the retailer or the brand owner to theadditional layer of information and prevent changes to the third layerof information from the retailer or the brand owner.

In the many aspects, the publisher module of the ingredient datamanagement platform is configured to receive the changes to theadditional layer of information and configured to track and maintain aledger of the changes from which a previous version of the additionallayer of information is accessible

In the many aspects, a system to harmonize and publish a portion of anelectronic label for view by a user that contains additional informationbeyond what is set forth on a product label of a product associated witha retailer or a brand owner generally includes an ingredient datamanagement platform that generates a first layer of information thatincludes in combination information from the product label andattributes determined from the information from the product label butnot listed on the product label. The system includes a publisher moduleof the ingredient data management platform that generates a second layerof information, that populates the second layer of information withinformation from the first layer of information, and that is configuredto receive changes to the second layer of information from the retaileror the brand owner associated with the populated information from thefirst layer of information. The system also includes a harmonizer moduleof the ingredient data management platform that is configured to receiveat least a third layer of information including information about theproduct associated with the product label, and that publishes the secondlayer of information in cooperation with the third layer of informationincluding a portion of the third layer information that is additionalrelative to the second layer of information and the second layer ofinformation includes the changes from the retailer or the brand owner tothe portion of the electronic label. The publisher module is configuredto accept changes from the retailer or the brand owner to the secondlayer of information and prevent changes to the first layer ofinformation from the retailer or the brand owner.

In the many aspects, the harmonizer module is configured to receive aplurality of layers of information including information about theproduct associated with the product label. The harmonizer module isconfigured to publish the second layer of information in cooperationwith the plurality of layers of information including a portion of theplurality of layers of information that is additional relative to thesecond layer of information and a portion of the plurality of layers ofinformation that replaces a portion of the second layer of information.

The many aspects of the present disclosure include a method fordeconstructing information from a plurality of labels using informationtechnology. The plurality of labels is for a plurality of consumerproducts available to users. The method includes obtaining, using acomputing device, a plurality of labels from the plurality of consumerproducts. Each label of the plurality of labels identifies the contentof a respective consumer product of the plurality of consumer products.The method includes processing, using the computing device, a label ofthe plurality of labels to identify a first piece of constituentinformation corresponding to a first portion of the label and a secondpiece of constituent information corresponding to a second portion ofthe label that is different than the first portion of the label. Themethod includes assigning, using the computing device, a first baseattribute to the first piece of the constituent information andassigning, using the computing device, a second base attribute to thesecond piece of the constituent information. The first base attribute isdescriptive of the first piece of the constituent information and isdifferent than the second base attribute that is descriptive of thesecond piece of the constituent information. The method includesassociating, using the computing device, a first master attribute withat least one of the first base attribute and generating for display at aclient device, a portion of a label view based on a query about at leastone consumer product of the plurality of consumer products, the portionof the label view containing detail of the master attribute.

In many aspects, the first and second piece of constituent informationare each at least one of text and graphics from a portion of each labelin the plurality of label. The portion of each of the labels in theplurality of label is at least one of nutrition facts, ingredientlistings, certification listings, recycling information, warninglistings, certification statements, universal product codes,manufacturers information, marketing claim information, and packagesize.

In many aspects, the processing, using the computing device, of thelabel of the plurality of labels to identify the first piece ofconstituent information corresponding to the first portion of the labelincludes routing the first portion of each of the labels automaticallyto an automatic recognition and comparison process for confirmation of amatch between the first base attribute and the first piece of theconstituent information on each of the labels.

In many aspects, the obtaining, using a computing device, of theplurality of labels from the plurality of consumer products includescapturing each of the labels of the plurality of labels at a scanningdevice and transmitting the plurality of labels to the computing device.

In many aspects, one of the consumer products for which the portion ofthe label view is generated by the computing device in response to thequery is related to at least one item that is selected from a groupconsisting of at least one of foods; beverages; consumer packaged goods;personal items; pet care products; clothing; toys for children; lawncare products; window stickers for vehicles; heating, ventilation, airconditioning products; and bedding products.

In many aspects, the foods are selected from a group consisting of atleast one of canned goods, produce, meats, dairy products, and snacks.The beverages are selected from a group consisting of at least one ofbottled water, fruit juice, vegetable juice, protein shakes, nutritionalshakes, pre-packaged coffee, pre-packaged tea, soda pop, carbonatedjuices; wines, liquor, beer, mixers, and energy drinks. The personalitems are selected from a group consisting of at least one ofdeodorants, toothpastes, mouthwashes, vitamins, herbal supplements wounddressings, cosmetics, skin moisturizers, sun blocks, anti-itch creams,and sunburn creams. The pet care products are selected from a groupconsisting of at least one of domestic animal foods, treats, litter boxmaterials, topical dressings, and specialized diet mixes. The clothingis selected from a group consisting of at least one of undershirts,undergarments, pants, shoes, coats, information about material fromwhich the clothing is made, coatings on the clothing, and treatments onthe clothing. The toys for children are selected from a group consistingof at least one of mobiles, teething instruments, baby bottles, toysthat can fit into a mouth of a child, and pacifiers. The lawn careproducts are selected from a group consisting of at least one offertilizers, pesticides, and moisture retentive media. The windowstickers for vehicles are selected from a group consisting of at leastone of automobiles, commercial vehicles, off-road vehicles, motorcycles,all-terrain vehicles, lawn-mowing equipment, and snow removal equipment.The heating, ventilation, and air conditioning products are selectedfrom a group consisting of at least one of air conditioning handlers,furnaces, humidifiers, de-humidifiers, swamp-coolers, attic fans, mediaair cleaners, and electrostatic air cleaners. The bedding products areselected from a group consisting of at least one of mattresses, boxsprings, mattress covers, sheets, comforters, duvets, pillows, pillowcases, dust covers, and blankets.

In many aspects, the user is a consumer accessing the computing devicewith a mobile device through which the user is able to identify at leastone of the consumer products to obtain the portion of the label viewcontaining the master attribute descriptive of at least one of theconsumer products.

In many aspects, the portion of the label view is configured to provideinformation related to a SmartLabel® brand label. In many aspects, themobile device of one of the users is configured to receive QR code dataand to present the portion of the label view that pertains to the atleast one of the consumer products that is associated with the QR codedata. In many aspects, the mobile device is selected from a groupconsisting of at least one of a smartphone, a handheld scanner, a kioskby the consumer, a wearable, and a computer.

In many aspects, the label view is configured to detail other consumerproducts with which the master attribute is also associated. In manyaspects, the portion of the label view that contains detail of themaster attribute is also configured to display serving size information.The serving size information is selected from a group consisting of atleast one of a reference amount customarily consumed, a user-adjustableweight per serving, 100 grams of weight per serving, and a recommendeddaily allowance.

In many aspects, the portion of the label view that contains detail ofthe master attribute is also configured to display at least one foodcode recognized by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.The food code is related to the at least one of the consumer products onwhich the portion of the label view is based.

In many aspects, one of the users is a brand owner accessing thecomputing device with a brand owner interface through which the brandowner is able to identify the at least one of the consumer products toobtain the portion of the label view containing the master attributedescriptive of the at least one of the consumer products. The brandowner interface is configured to permit the brand owners to inputcorrective information to be applied to the portion of the label viewfor the one of the consumer products.

In many aspects, the brand owner interface is configured to include allof the base attributes associated with each of the many pieces of theconstituent information for one of the consumer products. The computingdevice is configured to provide the brand user interface with at leastone of a confirmation of a legitimacy of the at least one claim, asuggestion for at least one additional claim, and a suggestion forremoval of the at least one claim.

In many aspects, a method for deconstructing information from aplurality of labels into constituent information using informationtechnology with the plurality of labels being on products for consumersincludes obtaining the plurality of the labels from the consumerproducts into an ingredient data management platform. The methodincludes detecting automatically with the ingredient data managementplatform each piece among a plurality of pieces of constituentinformation from each label in the plurality of labels and assigning atleast a first base attribute automatically with the ingredient datamanagement platform to a first piece of the constituent information andto all other pieces of the constituent information that match the firstbase attribute of the first piece of the constituent information. Themethod includes assigning at least a second base attribute automaticallywith the ingredient data management platform to a second piece of theconstituent information and to all other pieces of the constituentinformation that match the second base attribute of the second piece ofthe constituent information. Each of the first base attribute and thefirst piece of the constituent information are different from the secondbase attribute and the second piece of the constituent information. Themethod includes associating a master attribute automatically with theingredient data management platform to both the first base attribute andthe second base attribute and generating a portion of a label view inresponse to a query about at least one of the consumer products. Theportion of the label view containing detail of at least the masterattribute includes information that is otherwise unavailable in thepieces of constituent information of the one of the consumer products towhich the label view refers.

In many aspects, the portion of the label view that contains detail ofthe master attribute is also configured to display serving sizeinformation. The serving size information is selected from a groupconsisting of at least one of a reference amount customarily consumed, auser-adjustable weight per serving, 100 grams of weight per serving, anda recommended daily allowance.

In many aspects, the ingredient data management platform is configuredto be accessed by one of the consumers with a mobile device throughwhich one of the consumers is able to identify one of the consumerproducts to obtain the portion of the label view. The mobile device isselected from a group consisting of at least one of a smartphone, ahandheld scanner, a kiosk by the consumer, a wearable, and a computer.

In many aspects, the mobile device of one of the consumers is configuredto receive QR code data. The label view pertains to one of the consumerproducts that is associated with the QR code. The mobile device is oneof a smartphone, a handheld scanner, a kiosk by the consumer, awearable, and a computer.

In many aspects, detecting automatically with the ingredient datamanagement platform includes capturing each of the labels of theplurality of labels at a scanning device and transmitting the pluralityof labels to the ingredient data management platform.

In many aspects, a method for parsing information from a plurality ofproduct labels using information technology includes obtainingconstituent information with an ingredient data platform from text andgraphics found on a portion of a label from a plurality of the productlabels. The method includes assigning base attributes automatically withthe ingredient data platform to each piece of the constituentinformation on at least one of the product labels and associating thebase attributes assigned by the ingredient data platform with differentbase attributes in at least one pre-constructed taxonomy data structurehandled by the ingredient data platform to establish relationshipsbetween the base attributes that were previously assigned to theingredient data platform and the base attributes from thepre-constructed taxonomy data structure.

The method includes assigning a master attribute automatically with theingredient data platform to a relationship between the base attributesassigned by the ingredient data platform and the associated baseattributes in the pre-constructed taxonomy data structure. The methodincludes generating at least a portion of a label view containing detailbased on the master attribute pertaining to at least one consumerproduct whose product label lacks information detailed in the portion ofthe label view.

In many aspects, the portion of each product label includes items ofconstituent information that are at least one of nutrition facts,ingredient listings, certification listings, recycling information,warning listings, certification statements, universal product codes,manufacturers information, marketing claims and package size.

In many aspects, the at least one consumer product for which the portionof the label view is generated by the ingredient data platform isrelated to one item selected from a group consisting of foods;beverages; consumer packaged goods; personal items; pet care products;clothing; toys for children; lawn care products; window stickers forvehicles; heating, ventilation, air conditioning products; and beddingproducts. In many aspects, the at least one consumer product is foodsselected from a group consisting of at least one of canned goods,produce, meats, dairy products, and snacks. The at least one consumerproduct is beverages selected from a group consisting of at least one ofbottled water, fruit juice, vegetable juice, protein shakes, nutritionalshakes, pre-packaged coffee, pre-packaged tea, soda pop, carbonatedjuices; wines, liquor, beer, mixers, and energy drinks. The at least oneconsumer product is personal items selected from a group consisting ofat least one of deodorants, toothpastes, mouthwashes, vitamins, herbalsupplements wound dressings, cosmetics, skin moisturizers, sun blocks,anti-itch creams, and sunburn creams. The at least one consumer productis pet care products selected from a group consisting of at least one ofdomestic animal foods, treats, litter box materials, topical dressings,and specialized diet mixes. The at least one consumer product isclothing selected from a group consisting of at least one ofundershirts, undergarments, pants, shoes, coats, information aboutmaterial from which the clothing is made, coatings on the clothing, andtreatments on the clothing. The at least one consumer product is toysfor children selected from a group consisting of at least one ofmobiles, teething instruments, baby bottles, toys that can fit into amouth of a child, and pacifiers. The at least one consumer product islawn care products selected from a group consisting of at least one offertilizers, pesticides, and moisture-retentive media. The at least oneconsumer product is window stickers for vehicles selected from a groupconsisting of at least one of automobiles, commercial vehicles, off-roadvehicles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, lawn-mowing equipment, andsnow removal equipment. The at least one consumer product is heating,ventilation, and air conditioning products selected from a groupconsisting of at least one of air conditioning handlers, furnaces,humidifiers, de-humidifiers, swamp-coolers, attic fans, media aircleaners, and electrostatic air cleaners. The at least one consumerproduct is bedding products selected from a group consisting of at leastone of mattresses, box springs, mattress covers, sheets, comforters,duvets, pillows, pillow cases, dust covers, and blankets.

In many aspects, at least one of the users is a consumer accessing theingredient data platform with a mobile device through which the useridentifies at least one of the consumer products to obtain a label viewcontaining the portion of the label view with the master attributedescriptive of one of the consumer products. In many aspects, theportion of the label view is configured to provide information tosupport a SmartLabel® brand view.

In many aspects, the mobile device of one of the users is configured toreceive QR code data to present the label view that pertains to one ofconsumer products that are associated with the QR code. In many aspects,the mobile device is at least one of a smartphone, a handheld scanner, akiosk accessible by the consumer, a wearable device, a laptop, anotebook, a tablet, a smartwatch, and a computer.

In many aspects, the label view that contains detail of the masterattribute is also configured to display at least the master attributeassociated with at least one of a reference amount customarily consumed,a predetermined weight per serving, 100 grams of weight per serving, anda recommended daily allowance.

In many aspects, the method includes determining that a piece of theconstituent information on one of the product labels is incorrect. Inmany aspects, a label portion is generated to provide correctedinformation for the product labels when it is determined that the pieceof the constituent information on one of the product labels isincorrect.

In many aspects, a system includes an ingredient data platform thatautomatically, under computer control, detects items of constituentinformation from identified product labels for consumer products, thatassigns base attributes automatically to all of the items of constituentinformation on the product labels, and that establishes relationshipsbetween the assigned base attributes with different base attributes inpre-constructed taxonomies. The system also assigns a master attributeautomatically to at least one of the established relationships, andconfigures at least one data structure for display in a portion of alabel view containing detail of the master attribute that pertains to atleast one of the consumer products. The detail of the master attributecontains information unavailable in the constituent informationassociated with the at least one of the consumer products.

In many aspects, the ingredient data platform is configured to beaccessed by a user with a mobile device through which the useridentifies the at least one of the consumer products to obtain theportion of the label view containing the master attribute descriptive ofone the at least one of the consumer products. In many aspects, themobile device is configured to receive QR code data and to present thelabel view that pertains to the at least one of the consumer productsthat is associated with the QR code. The mobile device is at least oneof a smartphone, a handheld scanner, a kiosk accessible by the consumer,a wearable device, a laptop, a notebook, a tablet, a smartwatch, and acomputer.

In many aspects, the ingredient data platform captures automatically atleast one of text and graphics from the constituent information thatincludes at least one of nutrition facts, ingredient listings,certification listings, recycling information, warning listings,certification statements, universal product codes, manufacturer'sinformation, and package size.

In many aspects, the portion of the label view is configured to provideinformation to support a SmartLabel® brand view. In many aspects, thelabel view displays at least the master attribute associated with atleast one of a reference amount customarily consumed, a predeterminedweight per serving, 100 grams of weight per serving, and a recommendeddaily allowance.

In many aspects, the ingredient data platform determines automaticallythat an item of the constituent information on one of the product labelsis incorrect.

In many aspects, a label portion is automatically generated to providecorrected information for the product label when it is determined thatan item of information is incorrect. In many aspects, the ingredientdata platform determines automatically that at least one of a nutritionfact, a certification listing, a marketing claim, and a certificationstatement should be added to the product label.

The many aspects of the present disclosure include a method forautomatically deconstructing, analyzing, and confirming information on aplurality of labels using information technology. The plurality oflabels is for a plurality of consumer products. The method includesobtaining, using a computing device, a plurality of labels from theplurality of consumer products. Each label of the plurality of labelsidentifies content of a respective consumer product of the plurality ofconsumer products. The method includes processing, using the computingdevice, a label of the plurality of labels to identify constituentinformation on the label including a first set of claims on the label.The method also includes generating a portion of a label view fordisplay at a client device based on a query about at least therespective consumer product associated with the label includingautomatically displaying a second set of claims having at least oneclaim based on the constituent information that is different than anyclaim in the first set of claims.

In many aspects, the second set of claims includes at least one of aconfirmation of a legitimacy of at least one claim from the first set ofclaims. In many aspects, the second set of claims includes a suggestionfor at least one additional claim. In many aspects, the second set ofclaims includes a suggestion for removal of the at least one claim fromthe first set of claims. In many aspects, the second set of claimsdeletes at least one claim from the first set of claims. In manyaspects, the second set of claims substitutes a new claim for the atleast one deleted claim.

In many aspects, the constituent information is at least one of text andgraphics and includes at least one of nutrition facts, ingredientlistings, certification listings, recycling information, warninglistings, certification statements, universal product codes,manufacturers information, marketing claim information, and packagesize.

In many aspects, the obtaining, using a computing device, the pluralityof labels from the plurality of consumer products includes capturingeach of the labels of the plurality of labels at a scanning device andtransmitting the plurality of labels to the computing device.

In many aspects, the respective consumer products for which the portionof the label view is generated by the computing device in response tothe query is related to at least one item that is selected from a groupconsisting of at least one of foods; beverages; consumer packaged goods;personal items; pet care products; clothing; toys for children; lawncare products; window stickers for vehicles; heating, ventilation, airconditioning products; and bedding products.

In many aspects, the foods are selected from a group consisting of atleast one of canned goods, produce, meats, dairy products, and snacks.The beverages are selected from a group consisting of at least one ofbottled water, fruit juice, vegetable juice, protein shakes, nutritionalshakes, pre-packaged coffee, pre-packaged tea, soda pop, carbonatedjuices; wines, liquor, beer, mixers, and energy drinks. The personalitems are selected from a group consisting of at least one ofdeodorants, toothpastes, mouthwashes, vitamins, herbal supplements wounddressings, cosmetics, skin moisturizers, sun blocks, anti-itch creams,and sunburn creams. The pet care products are selected from a groupconsisting of at least one of domestic animal foods, treats, litter boxmaterials, topical dressings, and specialized diet mixes. The clothingis selected from a group consisting of at least one of undershirts,undergarments, pants, shoes, coats, information about material fromwhich the clothing is made, coatings on the clothing, and treatments onthe clothing. The toys for children are selected from a group consistingof at least one of mobiles, teething instruments, baby bottles, toysthat can fit into a mouth of a child, and pacifiers. The lawn careproducts are selected from a group consisting of at least one offertilizers, pesticides, and moisture retentive media. The windowstickers for vehicles are selected from a group consisting of at leastone of automobiles, commercial vehicles, off-road vehicles, motorcycles,all-terrain vehicles, lawn-mowing equipment, and snow removal equipment.The heating, ventilation, and air conditioning products are selectedfrom a group consisting of at least one of air conditioning handlers,furnaces, humidifiers, de-humidifiers, swamp-coolers, attic fans, mediaair cleaners, and electrostatic air cleaners. The bedding products areselected from a group consisting of at least one of mattresses, boxsprings, mattress covers, sheets, comforters, duvets, pillows, pillowcases, dust covers, and blankets.

In many aspects, the client device is a mobile device through which auser is able to identify the at least one of the consumer products toobtain the portion of the label view descriptive of at least one of theconsumer products.

In many aspects, the mobile device is selected from a group consistingof at least one of a smartphone, a handheld scanner, a kiosk by theconsumer, a wearable, and a computer.

In many aspects, the portion of the label view is configured to provideinformation related to a SmartLabel® brand label.

In many aspects, a portion of the label view is configured to displayserving size information. The serving size information is selected froma group consisting of at least one of a reference amount customarilyconsumed, a user-adjustable weight per serving, 100 grams of weight perserving, and a recommended daily allowance.

In many aspects, the client device includes a brand owner interfacethrough which a brand owner is able to generate a portion of a labelview for display including the at least one claim in the second set ofclaims.

In many aspects, the client device includes a brand owner interfacethrough which the brand owner is able to generate a portion of a labelview that is configured to permit the brand owner to input correctiveinformation to be applied to the portion of the label view for at leastthe respective consumer product.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Detailed aspects of the present disclosure are provided herein; however,it is to be understood that the disclosed aspects are merely examplesthat may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific structuraland functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted aslimiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representativebasis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ thepresent disclosure in virtually any appropriately detailed structure.

The terms “a” or “an,” as used herein, are defined as one or more thanone. The term “another,” as used herein, is defined as at least a secondor more. The terms “including” and/or “having,” as used herein, aredefined as comprising (i.e., open transition).

The many aspects of the present disclosure include an ingredientmanagement computing system and/or computing environment thatautomatically captures and manages product information typicallycontained on the labels (referred to in some cases herein as labels orlabel flats) of food products or other consumer products. In the manyaspects, the ingredient management computing system and/or computingenvironment 10, as depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2, can be used toautomatically capture, process, parse, and/or otherwise analyze productinformation and/or images of product information captured or otherwiseobtained from labels of a single product, multiple products (e.g., avery large numbers of products), consumer products, and the like. In themany aspects, the obtained product information is automaticallycaptured, recognized, processed, and parsed by the ingredient managementcomputing system and/or computing environment 10 into data, datasets, ortaxonomic data structures of a highly granular level that reflects abase, or atomic, level of each ingredient of which there are manythousands in the aspects of the present disclosure, such that thecomputing environment, the processes, and the systems described in thepresent application are required in order to automatically process,analyze, deconstruct, and parse (e.g., breakdown and organize) the vastamounts of ingredient and product data into the pieces or portions ofthe constituent information in an efficient, instant, and real-timemanner, as well as various intermediate levels of the ingredients andproduct information (such as where an ingredient represents acombination, mixture, compound, or the like). The obtained ingredientand product information can then be processed by the ingredientmanagement computing system and/or computing environment 10 toautomatically generate various interfaces and/or graphicaluser-interfaces (referred to herein as tailored views), which may beprovided to users, such as consumers, manufacturers (referred to in somecases herein as brands, brand owners, or product owners), retailers,regulators, marketing professionals, service providers, and others, inreal-time or near real-time.

In the many aspects of the present disclosure, the ingredient managementcomputing system and/or computing environment 10 includes an ingredientdata management platform 20, as shown in FIG. 1. The ingredient datamanagement platform 20 includes a technology stack of the ingredientmanagement computing system and/or computing environment 10 with variouscomponents, modules, and layers that can connect with many differentusers.

The ingredient data management platform 20 can automatically capture,process, parse, and/or otherwise analyze product ingredients and/orproduct information from images obtained from one or many labels 100 ofone or many products 110 including a single label 102 of a singleproduct 112, and from other single products such as a product 114 and aproduct 116. In one aspect, text 104 and graphics 106 on the labels 102can be digitized and deconstructed by the ingredient managementcomputing system and/or computing environment 10 so that many baseattributes 120 can be assigned to all or some of constituent information122 on the labels 100. The base attributes 120 can be categorized,sorted, and mapped to one or more taxonomic libraries that can be in apreconstructed taxonomic data structure. One or more master attributes124 can be associated with the base attributes 120; or put another way,multiple base attributes 120 can be non-exclusively organized under themaster attributes 124. In certain aspects, one of the master attributes124 can be associated with one of the base attributes 120. In furtheraspects, one of the master attributes 124 can be associated with apredetermined set of base attributes 120. In additional aspects, one ofthe master attributes 124 can be associated with the lack of apredetermined set of base attributes 120 being assigned (or in thiscase, not being able to be assigned) to the constituent ingredients 122on the labels 100.

The ingredient data management platform 20 can generate tailored viewsthat can be selected by one of the users of the ingredient managementcomputing system and/or computing environment 10. The tailored views (orportions thereof) can display the master attributes 124. The tailoredviews can also display at least one of the master attributes 124, theconstituent information 122, the base attributes 120. In certainexamples, the constituent information 122 can include or can be used torecreate the actual text 104 and graphics 106 from the labels 100. Thetailored views (or portions thereof) can be used by many users to makedecisions about the products 110 with much more information and muchmore easily understood information relative to what is set forth ontypical product labels. As such, the tailored views can display masterattributes 124 that are descriptive of products 110 and containinformation not found or available from the text 104 and the graphics106 of the labels 100.

In one example and as shown in label 102, the ingredient managementcomputing system and/or computing environment 10 can be directed to foodproducts, and the label 102 is attached to a consumable productavailable to the buying public in retail channels, such as on shelves ofa store or in an online retail environment. In further examples, theingredient management computing system and/or computing environment 10can be directed to personal items with similar labels such as fordeodorants, toothpaste, mouthwash, vitamins, herbal supplements, wounddressings, cosmetics, skin moisturizers, sun blocks, anti-itch creams,sunburn creams, and the like. In other examples, the ingredientmanagement computing system and/or computing environment 10 can bedirected to pet care products with similar labels such as for domesticanimal food, treats, litter box materials, topical dressings,specialized diet mixes, and the like.

In further examples, the ingredient management computing system and/orcomputing environment 10 can be directed to clothing with similar labelssuch as for undershirts, undergarments, pants, shoes, coats, and thelike, such as to contain, in the various aspects, information aboutmaterials, coatings, treatments, or the like, for the same. In otherexamples, the ingredient management computing system and/or computingenvironment 10 can be directed to toys for children with similar labelssuch as for mobiles, teething instruments, baby bottles, toys that canfit into a mouth of a child, pacifiers, and the like. In yet furtherexamples, the ingredient management computing system and/or computingenvironment 10 can be directed to lawn care products with similar labelssuch as for fertilizers, pesticides, moisture-retentive media, and thelike. In other examples, the ingredient management computing systemand/or computing environment 10 can be directed to window stickers forvehicles such as for automobiles, commercial vehicles, off-roadvehicles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, lawn-mowing equipment, snowremoval equipment, and the like. In further examples, the ingredientmanagement computing system and/or computing environment 10 can bedirected to heating, ventilation, and air conditioning products withsimilar labels such as for air conditioning handlers, furnaces,humidifiers, de-humidifiers, swamp-coolers, attic fans, media aircleaners, electrostatic air cleaners, and the like. Additional examplesinclude the ingredient management computing system and/or computingenvironment 10 being directed to bedding products with similar labelssuch as for mattresses, box springs, mattress covers, sheets,comforters, duvets, pillows, pillow cases, dust covers, blankets, andthe like.

In the many aspects of the present disclosure, the tailored views caninclude a view such as a label view (or a portion thereof). The labelview can be used for food products or other consumer-directed itemsdiscussed herein and can provide more detailed and enhanced labels forthe buyer. In many aspects, information presented in the tailored viewcan be used at least in part to create a view that can be used forproduct verification processes with the manufacturers of the foodproducts, the brand owners, or the like. Information presented in thetailored view through a brand or manufacturer interface can be used atleast in part to create another tailored view that can be used todetermine compliance with regulatory labeling requirements on foodproducts or the other items discussed herein. Further tailored views canbe used to elicit corrective information from the brand owner ormanufacturer. Additional tailored views can identify claims that couldbe added or claims that should be omitted from the labels 100 processedby the ingredient data management platform 20.

In many aspects of the present disclosure, the constituent information122 can include what is on the package of a product, i.e., every pieceof information. In some aspects, the constituent information 122 can beraw data of the product and its labels delivered in an appropriate datastream or through a suitable communication system. In one example, aserving size of thirty grams can be identified as constituentinformation associated with a food product. By way of this example, theserving size of thirty grams can be considered the raw data from thelabeling on the product. The constituent information 122 can be takenverbatim from the labeling but the serving size of thirty grams andother raw data can be split up and organized into its parts. By way ofthis example, the serving size of thirty grams can be deconstructed andsplit into two pieces of data: 30 units, and the unit of measure isgrams. It will be appreciated in light of the disclosure that the numberof units can be varied as can the units of measure. In one example, asingle unit could be identified such as one unit and the unit of measurebeing in liquid ounces, i.e., 1 oz.

In many aspects of the present disclosure, the base attributes 120 caninclude information derived from the constituent information 122. Inmany aspects, the base attributes 120 can be the building blocks in theingredient management computing system and/or computing environment 10.In many examples, the base attributes 120 can be derived from therecognition of information in the constituent information 122 by runningrecognition processes discussed herein on the constituent information122. In one example, high fructose corn syrup can be constituentinformation 122 listed on the labels 100 and can be recognized by thesystem and/or computing environment 10 and assigned one of many baseattributes 120 including “artificial sweetener.” In a further example,“HFCS” can be in the constituent information 122 listed on the labels100 in lieu of the labels saying high fructose corn syrup. HFCS can alsobe recognized by the ingredient management computing system and/orcomputing environment 10 and can be assigned one of many base attributes120 including “artificial sweetener.”

In many aspects of the present disclosure, the master attribute 124 canbe a “head attribute” under which many of the base attributes 120 can benon-exclusively organized. By way of the previous examples, HFCS can bepart of constituent information 122 on one label 100 while High FructoseCorn Syrup can be part of constituent information 122 on another label100. The base attribute 120 of artificial sweetener can be derived fromboth the HFCS and the high fructose corn syrup constituent information122. The base attribute 120 of artificial sweetener can be organizedunder the master attribute 124 of sweetener. Depending on the use of themaster attributes 124, the base attribute 120 of artificial sweetenercan be organized under other master attributes 124 such as added sugar,non-sucrose sugars, and the like. In further examples, a masterattribute 124 of reduced salt can have base attributes 120 organizedunder it such as low salt, lower salt, or the like. By way of thisexample, the constituent information 122 can be a hint of salt, lowsodium, or comparable statements detailing a reduction in salt content.In this way, all reduced salt claims can be organized and accessed underthe reduced salt master attribute 124 and/or organized under othermaster attributes 124 that relate to the master attributes where baseattributes 120 regarding reduced salt can be helpful such as hearthealth related master attributes 124.

In many aspects of the present disclosure, the text 104 and the graphics106 on the labels 100 can be parsed, deconstructed, and digitized sothat all of the data on the labels 100 and/or further data associatedwith the product can be used to identify and save the constituentinformation 122. The constituent information 122, derived from eitherthe label 100 itself or from other sources, can be stored in arelational database. Various automatic computing methods can be usedincluding machine learning to recognize the patterns in the constituentinformation 122 stored in the relational database. The base attributes120 can be automatically derived from the constituent information 122 topre-process and facilitate the derivation of information from theconstituent information 122 for the ultimate organization under andaccess through the master attributes 124. Once organized under themaster attributes 124, any user can access, confirm, or compare any ofthe constituent information 122 through the relationship with the masterattributes 124.

In many aspects of the present disclosure, the constituent information122 can present additional combinations and patterns of data on whichadditional master attributes 124 can be created. The creation of theadditional master attributes 124 can be performed automatically by theingredient management computing system and/or computing environment 10.Examples of such additional master attributes 124 can include “WholeFoods Allowed Ingredients,” “Basil Ingredients,” “Trans FatIngredients,” “Low Sodium Claims,” or the like. The additionalcombinations and patterns of data recognized in the constituentinformation 122 can be directed into one or more NoSQL databases orother suitable data stores. In many aspects, the ingredient managementcomputing system and/or computing environment 10 can automatically applymany forms of statistical analysis and/or fuzzy logic to automaticallyand non-exclusively organize the base attributes 120 under one or moremaster attributes 124 based on the one or more recognized patterns of inthe data from the constituent information 122. Any base attributes 120,which are not recognized and as such are not organized under one or moremaster attributes 124 (or organized under relatively few masterattributes 124), can be identified for further analysis that can includeautomatic and manual forms of analyses. Here, the manual forms ofanalyses can be learned and later emulated by the ingredient managementcomputing system and/or computing environment 10 when contextual similarbase attributes 120 can require further organization or changes to theorganizational strategies. As such, the manual inputs to assist in theorganization of the base attributes 120 under the master attributes 124can be deployed later under the automatic processes of the ingredientmanagement computing system and/or computing environment 10.

With reference to FIG. 2, the labels 100 can include many areas of text104 and many areas of graphics 106, all of this constituent information122 and anything else on the labels 100 can be automatically processed,parsed, deconstructed, and retained by the ingredient data managementplatform 20. The automatic processing, parsing, deconstruction, andretention, of the constituent information 122 can be completed by theingredient data management platform 20 as disclosed herein. Theingredient data management platform 20 can be configured to providethese services resident with the platform 20 or obtain the serviceshosted in the cloud through connectivity with a cloud network facilityor other communication networks.

In the many aspects, the ingredient data management platform 20 canautomatically capture, process, parse, and/or otherwise analyze theconstituent information 122 on the labels 100 to assign one or more ofthe base attributes 120 to each piece of the constituent information122. To make this process more efficient, the ingredient data managementplatform 20 can automatically parse the constituent information 122 intonutrition facts 160, ingredient listings 162, certification listings164, recycling information 166, warning listings 168, and the like. Theingredient data management platform 20 can also automatically processand identify further areas on the label 102 such as the name of themanufacturer 170 and its contact and social media information 172. Theingredient data management platform 20 can also automatically processand identify further areas on the label 102 such container sizes orweights 174, universal price code (UPC) or other machine information 176such as QR codes, batch, serial, and other manufacturing numbers andinformation.

In many aspects, the ingredient data management platform 20 can receiveall (or some) of the constituent information 122 on the labels 100 andcan automatically process, parse, and/or otherwise analyze all of thetext 104 and the graphics 106 of each piece of the constituentinformation 122 and assign at least one of the base attributes 120 toeach of the pieces of constituent information 122. In many instances,more than one of the base attributes 120 can be assigned to each pieceof the constituent information 122 for each piece of information foundon the labels 100. In one example, one of the base attributes 120 can beassigned when a certain ingredient is detected on the labels 100. Otherbase attributes 120 can be assigned to other similar ingredients on thelabels 100. The base attributes 120 can be used to identify the sameingredients from the constituent information 122 on labels 100 that canbe differently described label-to-label, or even within a specific labelsuch as the label 102. One of the labels 100 can list an ingredient thatis equivalent to an ingredient listing on another label. In thisinstance, the ingredient data management platform 20 can assign baseattributes 120 to each ingredient and determine a relationship betweenthe base attributes 120 based on the location of the base attributes(and the ingredients or portion thereof to which they are assigned) inthe taxonomic data structures, or the like that permit organization ofthe relationships.

By way of example, a common food coloring often known as Yellow 5 isalso known as Tartrazine; however, Yellow 5 can, in fact, be listed onlabels of food products, or other purchasable items described herein inmany different ways (perhaps hundreds or even over one thousanddifferent ways). The ingredient data management platform 20 can assignone of the base attributes 120 that can indicate the presence of Yellow5 (i.e., a head ingredient) in the food product when in fact the labelcontains information showing any one of the many ways to indicate thepresence of Yellow 5 but not actually the word “Yellow 5.” Thus, themany different ways to say Yellow 5 can be captured as base attributes120 and associated with the “contains Yellow 5” or “same as Yellow 5”master attributes 124. In this example, “contains Yellow 5” can be oneof the master attributes 124 that is applied when any of the thousandways to indicate Yellow 5 is used on the labels 100. In a furtherexample when the consumer is one of the users and receives one of thetailored views from the ingredient data management platform 20, theconsumer can be mindful of an allergy to Yellow 5, but otherwise not berequired to be versed in every one of the thousand ways to indicateYellow 5. Thus, the ingredient data management platform 20 can beconstructed to link the many synonyms or near-synonyms in theconstituent information 122 to base attributes 120, so that labelinformation (i.e., the constituent information 122 on the labels 100)can be reduced or deconstructed to sets of master attributes 124 thatare consistently deployed in the ingredient data management platform 20and therefore it can be shown that the users can rely on the masterattributes 124 to better understand the information on the labels 100.

The many aspects of the present disclosure include the ingredient datamanagement platform 20 having many technology layers 200 that canperform one or more functions and interact with or be part of otherlayers 200. The ingredient data management platform 20 can obtain all ofthe text 104 and graphic 106 textual information from the labels 100including the ingredient listings 162 of the products 110. Theingredient data management platform 20 can also include a new productidentification layer 210. The new product identification layer 210 caninteract with the products 110 and can accept ingredient information,such as by capturing labels 100 into the ingredient data managementplatform 20. In many aspects, the new product identification layer 210can interact with an information derivation layer 220 and a claimidentification layer 230 (which identifies, for example, marketingclaims made on a label) to digitize the labels 100 with the ingredientdata management platform 20 and categorize the information from the text104 and the graphics 106 on the labels 100.

In many aspects of the present disclosure, the new productidentification layer 210 can, under computer control, automaticallycompare the product 110 to an existing dictionary, pre-determinedreferences, or the like. The new product identification layer 210 inassociation with its computing environment can then automaticallydetermine based on metadata associated with the product 110, its brand,its manufacturer, or other associated inputs or contextual informationwhether this is a new or the same product or the new or sameingredients, certifications, warnings, container information or thelike. In some aspects, the new product identification layer 210 canautomatically identify new product labels of products that are relatedto products already learned by (i.e., deconstructed and saved in thelibraries and taxonomic structures of) the ingredient data managementplatform 20 so that features common to the new label and already learnedlabels need not be learned again in this computing environment. Infurther aspects, the new product identification layer 210 can alsoautomatically assist in identifying new constituent information 122 on alabel that can be described in a different way whether it is ingredients(e.g. HFCS is High Fructose Corn Syrup), product labels, or changes incontainer labeling or configuration.

In many aspects of the present disclosure, the ingredient datamanagement platform 20 and the computing environment can include theinformation derivation layer 220 that can automatically analyze patternson the label 100 of the product 110 to determine its constituentinformation 122 and assist in the assigning of base attributes 120 inthe computing environment. In many aspects of the present disclosure,the claim identification layer 230 can automatically analyze patterns inclaims identified in the text 104 and/or graphics 106 of the label 100to determine with the computing environment the true intent of theidentified claims. In one example, a “hint of salt” can be identified inthe constituent information 122 and assigned the base attribute 120 thatdetails low sodium.

In further aspects, the ingredient data management platform 20 can havean analytics layer 250 that can associate with the many layers 200 ofthe ingredient data management platform 20, including a cross-productinteraction analysis layer 260 and a market and product positioninganalysis layer 270. Each of these layers 250, 260, 270 can interact withother layers 200, including a user data models layer 300 and a databaselayer 310. The layers 200 can also include a sort layer 320, a comparelayer 330, and a search layer 340 to manipulate all (or some) of themaster attributes 124, the base attributes 120, and the constituentinformation 122 based on labels 100. In many aspects of the presentdisclosure, the analytics layer 250 can, among other things,automatically identify all of the constituent information 122 andanalyze all of the base attributes 120 and master attributes 124 in thecomputing environment. In some examples, the analysis of the baseattributes 120 and master attributes 124 in the computing environmentcan result in the automatic suggestions of claims that can be made about(or should be removed from) the product label 100 such as low sodiumwhen such claim can be made or removing low sodium when thecircumstances dictate it. In many aspects of the present disclosure, thecross-product interaction analysis layer 260 can automatically usepatterns identified by the computing environment in one product, inorder to automatically determine similar patterns identified andanalyzed in other products. In many aspects of the present disclosure,the market and product positioning analysis layer 270 can automaticallydetermine the context of a product as it relates to other productsassigned within its category by the computing environment based onmetadata of product. In some examples, the market and productpositioning analysis layer 270 can assist the computing environment inautomatically suggesting related products for the user. In furtherexamples, the market and product positioning layer 270 can automaticallyassist the computing environment in automatically identifyingconstituent information 122 on labels 100 and automatically assigningbase attributes 120 based on products positioned in close proximity on aretail shelf offering or offered in a related position with otherproducts in a web-based offering.

In many aspects of the present disclosure, the database layer 310 can bea database of holding pattern information for the computing environmentthat can be used for matching against constituent information 122 duringits automatic identification by the computing environment or itsassigning of base attributes 120 or master attributes 124. In manyaspects of the present disclosure, the sort layer 320 can provide thecomputing environment with the ability to slice, sort, re-sort, arrange,and drill-down automatically into different base attributes 120,constituent information 122, and master attributes 124 using derivedmetadata, contextual information, product positioning, and the like. Inmany aspects of the present disclosure, the compare layer 330 canprovide the computing environment with the ability to compare the baseattributes 120, constituent information 122, and master attributes 124of the products automatically against each other and then re-arrangedbased on the comparison using derived metadata, contextual information,product positioning, and the like. In many aspects of the presentdisclosure, the search layer 340 can provide the computing environmentwith the ability to allow fuzzy searching to gain true intent of searchautomatically to better compare and view the base attributes 120,constituent information 122, and master attributes 124 of the products110.

In further aspects, the ingredient data management platform 20 caninclude a complex definitions layer 350 for determining and catalogingrelatively complex text strings in labels 100 that can include, forexample, compound ingredient lists with parenthetical statements. Anattributes layer 360, or a hybrid attributes layer 370, or both, caninteract with the other layers 200 of the ingredient data managementplatform 20 to determine master attributes 124 based on the baseattributes 120 assigned to the constituent information 122 for theproducts 110 that can be displayed in tailored views. Those tailoredviews can be based on user profiles or reports, or both. A foodingredients layer 380, or a claims layer 390, or both, can interact withthe other layers 200 of the ingredient data management platform 20 tofurther determine master attributes 124 for the products 110 that can bedisplayed in tailored views.

In many aspects of the present disclosure, the complex definitions layer350 can include core definitions for use in the computing environment.The core definitions can include information about relationships betweenthe base attributes 120, the constituent information 122, and the masterattributes 124 and specifically when certain base attributes areautomatically assigned non-exclusively under one or more masterattributes 124. The core definitions that include information aboutrelationships between the base attributes 120, the constituentinformation 122, and the master attributes 124 can serve as buildingblocks in the computing environment for the attributes layer 360. Theattributes layer 360 can use the building blocks from the computingenvironment and established by the complex definitions layer 350 toautomatically build a wide variety of master attributes 124 based on theprofiles of the user, the needs of the brand owners or manufacturers, orentities looking to confirm the correctness of the constituentinformation 122. The hybrid attributes layer 370 can identify multiplebase attributes 120 or master attributes 124 in the computingenvironment and automatically create additional master attributes 124with a hybrid of other attributes based on the profiles of the user, theneeds of the brand owners or manufacturers, or entities looking toconfirm the correctness of the constituent information 122.

In some aspects of the present disclosure, the ingredient datamanagement platform 20 can be a cloud-based platform and can beconstructed to deliver the software as a service and to allow access viaapplication programming interfaces (APIs) that are suitable for use byvarious users or constituencies, such as allowing API-based accessbetween the ingredient data management platform 20 and informationtechnology systems used by manufacturers, retailers, marketers, and thelike. In further aspects, the ingredient data management platform 20 canconnect to or can include a personalization and recommendation engine400 and a key messaging engine 410. The ingredient data managementplatform 20 can also include a data and analytics user interface 420with a data and analytics API 430. The many users of the ingredient datamanagement platform 20 can connect with an interface or an API, or both,suitable for the needs of that user.

In further aspects of the present disclosure, the ingredient datamanagement platform 20 can include a consumer user interface 450 and aconsumer API 460. The consumer user interface 450 can have apersonalized recommendations layer 470, a personalized product attributedisplay layer 480, and a personalized advertising layer 490. Theconsumer user interface 450 can also have a consumer health andnutrition preference layer 500. The consumer user interface 450 can alsoconnect with a smart food product label landing page layer 510, a smartfood product label QR code layer 520, and a digitized smart food productlabel layer 530. In many aspects of the present disclosure, thepersonalized product attribute display layer 480 can automaticallycreate a view of the product that can be customized with specificattributes available in the computing environment based on individualuser selection. In many aspects of the present disclosure, the smartfood product label landing page layer 510 can create an exclusive orcustom landing page with “deeper” master attributes 124. The deepermaster attributes can be derived automatically from the label 100 basedon a smart food product as specified by the SmartSPEC® brand tailoredview. The deeper master attributes can be automatically configured byinformation in the SmartSPEC® brand tailored view. The deeper masterattributes can also be automatically configured by information from theuser, the brand owner, or the like.

In yet further aspects of the present disclosure, the ingredient datamanagement platform 20 can include a brand user interface 550 and abrand user API 560. In other aspects, the ingredient data managementplatform 20 can include a retailer user interface 590 and a retailer API580. The brand user interface 550 and the brand user API 560, theretailer user interface 590, and the retailer API 580, the consumer userinterface 450 and consumer API 460 can connect to a personalization andrecommendation engine layer 400. The brand user interface 550 and theconsumer user interface 450 can connect to a smart food product labellanding page layer 510, a smart food product label QR code layer 520,and a digitized smart food product label layer 530.

In further examples, the retailer user interface 590 can connect with aretailer shelf offerings layer 650. The shelf offering layers 650 can,among other things, locate items in a store on an aisle at a particularshelf location, such as based on the ingredients that may indicate anappropriate aisle (e.g., a “milk” ingredient as one of the majoringredients and a “cheese” statement in a marketing text element mightsuggest the “dairy” aisle for a product). The retailer user interface590 can also connect with a retailer stock supply notification layer 660and a retailer compliance check layer 670 (which may allow compliancepersonnel or computing resources dedicated to compliance to confirm,using information from the ingredient data management platform 20 that alabel and/or the product itself complies with applicable regulations,such as Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) regulations or similarregulations of other jurisdictions). Through various applicable APIs,many different users can connect to the ingredient data managementplatform 20 that can include additional layers that can be integral withthe platform 20 or that are connected to add one or more such servicesas needed.

The labels 100 for many products 110 from a manufacturer can be receivedinto the ingredient data management platform 20. The text 104 and thegraphics 106 can form the nutrition facts 160, ingredient listings 162,certification listings 164, recycling information 166, warning listings168, etc. on the labels 100 that can all be received into the ingredientdata management platform 20. As mentioned in the example above, manybase attributes 120 are determined from the constituent information 122found on the labels 100 and relationships to and with detailedtaxonomies that can allow for an understanding of alternative names foringredients (like Yellow 5). Moreover, the base attributes 120 can beassigned based on how constituent information 122 can roll up into otheringredients that are listed in the ingredients area on the labels 100,e.g., compound ingredients. The base attributes 120 can be assigned toeach piece of the product's constituent information 122 and can be usedto better understand and validate (or suggest removal of) claims aboutfoods or other products including claims based on ingredients, healthclaims, and others.

In many aspects, the ingredient data management platform 20 candeconstruct all of the information on the labels 100 and can assign baseattributes 120 to all of the information. Similar to the Yellow 5example above, the many different names can be used to indicate addedsugar. By way of this example, a multitude of ingredients (from theconstituent information 122) can be recognized and assigned baseattributes 120 that are sugar and ingredients comparable to sugar. Oneof the master attributes 124 can be “Added Sugar” and can be associatedwith the respective consumer products 110 having the labels 100containing such constituent information 122. The ingredient datamanagement platform 20 can then identify many food products anddetermine which ones have “Added Sugar” without requiring the user toknow the hundreds of different ingredients that can be added to a foodproduct that amounts to “Added Sugar.” Just like the Yellow 5 example, auser can inquire about one of the characteristics of a certain foodproduct or many food products and the ingredient data managementplatform 20 can identify those food products without the user having tobe versed in all of the possible sugar contributors or synonyms forYellow 5.

In the various aspects of the present disclosure, the master attributes124 can be delivered to the many users through the tailored views. Themaster attributes 124 can be based on a combination or relationship ofthe base attributes 120, contextual information of the product, the typeof user requesting the information, user profiles, search histories orrelevant analytic results, and the like. The types of users cangenerally include the brand owners or product manufacturers, the retailuser that sell products on a retail basis (like packaged food), and theconsumer. In other instances, government and regulatory bodies such asthe FDA can be a user or any of the one or more regulatory agenciesassociated with the products. Each of these types of users can havepurposefully distinct uses of the ingredient data management platform 20with specific tailored views.

In accordance with the many aspects of the present disclosure, theingredient data management platform 20 enables many distinct use casesfor manufacturers, retailers, and consumers, among others, including usecases related to marketing research, product development, and compliancewith certification processes and government regulators. The use casescan also include product positioning including shelf organization andmarketing claims, and advertising placement and review includingpersonalized recommendations for consumers.

In accordance with present disclosure, the ingredient data managementplatform 20 can provide users with enhanced information relative to whatis listed in the text 104 and the graphics 106 on the labels 100. Thebase attributes 120 can be determined automatically under computercontrol based on what is in each of the different categories recognizedfrom the text 104 and graphics 106 on the labels 100. In certaininstances, the same information in the text 104 and graphics 106,however, can be categorized into at least two categories. Masterattributes 124 can then be automatically assigned to each of theproducts based on the base attributes 120 or the categories in whichthey are organized, or both. In certain aspects of the presentdisclosure, one of the master attributes 124 can be based on at leasttwo of the base attributes 120 in two of the different categories.

For the various use cases detailed herein, the ingredient datamanagement platform 20 can receive many requests from the users that canrequest many different tailored views and include reports listing manymaster attributes 124. The reports when applicable can also include orbe descriptive of base attributes 120 and constituent information 122.In the various aspects of the present disclosure, a subset of masterattributes 124 can be selected automatically when the request from oneof the users is acknowledged or received. The subset of the masterattributes 124 can be based on a combination of the request receivedfrom the user and contextual information (such as a history or likes anddislikes of certain products, variants, or brands) associated with theproduct so that what is delivered can be shown to have an unprecedentedlevel of information helpful to the user relative to the label on theproduct.

In the various aspects of the present disclosure and with reference toFIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C and 3D, an exemplary version of an ingredient datamanagement platform 700 can similarly receive information from thelabels 100 of the products 110. The ingredient data management platform700 can be another embodiment of the ingredient data management platform20. The information from the labels 100 can be from a brand owner 710directly and can be in the form of the label text and graphic imagesfrom which the actual box or container art and labels are produced. Thelabels 100 can also be delivered from retailers 720. From the retailers720, the labels 100 can be the actual artwork, information, text, etc.,that form the product labels. In further examples, the labels 100 caninclude images taken of the actual labels. The actual labels can be onthe product at the time or can be ready to be affixed to the product(i.e., the label flat). The retailer 720, the brand owners 710, andothers can use a mobile application 730 to send the images taken of theactual labels. Whether images, actual label art, or a feed ofinformation, the labels 100 can be received into a web upload module750.

In the various aspects of the present disclosure, the web upload module750 can communicate with a cloud storage facility module 760, a databasemodule 770, and a thumbnailer module 780. The ingredient data managementplatform 700 can break down the text 104 and graphics 106 of the labels100 into the base attributes 120 that can be parsed and stored into manydifferent category modules including an ingredients module 800, a logosmodule 802, a nutrients module 804, a warnings module 806, and a claimsmodule 808. Certain aspects of the present disclosure includecategories, e.g. six categories, in which the base attributes 120 can beclassified. In certain aspects, there can a be a rest-of-product module810 that can serve as a catch-all when certain information does notpertain to the other categories. It will be appreciated in light of thedisclosure that the types or number of categories, or both, into whichthe base attributes 120 can be arranged can vary based on the type ofproduct. While the example above pertains to food, other categoriescould be implemented when needed such as for non-consumables.

In many aspects of the present disclosure, the web upload module 750 canallow drag and drop functionality to automatically upload labels 100 ofproducts 110 into the ingredient data management platform 20 and thecomputing environment. Images can be identified, and with drag and dropfunctionality, can be detected and automatically loaded into theingredient data management platform 20 and made available in thecomputing environment. In many aspects of the present disclosure, thedatabase module 770 can house metadata about the images from labels 100uploaded into the cloud storage module 760. In many aspects of thepresent disclosure, the thumbnailer module 780 can automatically takehigh-resolution images and create thumbnail images for better userexperience in analytics and API portals in the computing environment.

In many aspects of the present disclosure, the ingredients module 800can automatically identify, deconstruct, and assist with analyzing allingredients on the product 110 loaded into the computing environment toidentify its constituent information 122. In many aspects of the presentdisclosure, the logos module 802 can automatically identify and assistwith analyzing all logos and certificates (e.g., Kosher, Gluten Freecertifications, or the like) to identify such logos in the constituentinformation 122. In many aspects of the present disclosure, thenutrients module 804 can identify, deconstruct, and analyze nutrients asdetailed or outlined by the known Product Nutrient or Supplement factspanel on the label 100 or other nutrients listings in text or graphicsto automatically identify such nutrients the constituent information122. In many aspects of the present disclosure, the warnings module 806can automatically identify, deconstruct, and assist with analyzing allthe constituent information 122 in the computing environment related toallergens and other consumer warnings associated with facilities (e.g.,made in a facility that also processes peanuts), contents, combinationswith other products, or the like. Allergens identified with the warningsmodule 806 can also be automatically identified, deconstructed, analyzedand saved or associated with the metadata of the respective consumerproducts 110. In many aspects of the present disclosure, the claimsmodule 808 can receive unstructured claims data from the computingenvironment and understand the meaning of the claims in the constituentinformation 122 by using resources in the computing environment such aspattern recognition, machine learning, keyword identification, or thelike to assign appropriate base attributes 120 and master attributes124. In many aspects of the present disclosure, the rest-of-productmodule 810 can automatically identify, deconstruct, and assist withanalyzing all data on the package not captured by module 800, 802, 804,806, 808 and make that data available in the computing environment.

In many aspects of the present disclosure, the ingredient recognitionengine 900 can take the ingredients automatically captured by theingredients module 800 and can use the computing environment to parseand recognize patterns to determine and correctly identify ingredientsto assign the base attributes 120 and the master attribute 124accordingly. In many aspects of the present disclosure, the claimrecognition engine 902 can take the claims as captured by claims module808 and can automatically parse and recognize patterns to determineobjective claims (such as Hint of Salt means Low Sodium). In manyaspects of the present disclosure, the nutrient recognition engine 904can take the nutrients from the nutrients module 804 and canautomatically parse and identify true values of similar constituentingredients, such as Ascorbic Acid and Vitamin C being the same. In manyaspects of the present disclosure, the rest-of-product recognitionengine 906 can take the data from the rest-of-product module 810 and canautomatically parse, identify, and map relationships between brand andmanufacturer and flavor and product size and other data on the label nototherwise processed by the other engines 900, 902, 904.

In many aspects of the present disclosure, the attribution module 950can take base attributes 120 assigned to the constituent information 122and use recognition engines to allow for manipulation of what baseattributes 120 and master attributes 124 are associated with the variouspieces of constituent information. In many aspects of the presentdisclosure, the indexing module 960 can take the data from a relationaldatabase and index it into a NoSQL or document store for faster accessand fuzzy searching.

The information on the labels 100 can be received into the ingredientdata management platform 700 using imaging scanning and an opticalcharacter recognition (OCR) system 820 that can recognize the text 104or the graphics 106, or both, on the label 100. The graphics on thelabel can detail certifications or marketing claims such as “GlutenFree,” or “Kosher” and those too can be recognized automatically and canbe loaded into the ingredient data management platform 700. Each andevery piece of information on the labels 100 can be received into theingredient data management platform 700.

In further aspects of the present disclosure, the ingredient datamanagement platform 700 can use a combination of OCR and graphical imagerecognition (i.e., one or more recognition and comparison processes).When there is a match between the OCR and graphical image recognitionand possibly manual human data entry, the ingredient data managementplatform 700 can determine that the information is correct with thematch and accept it for the label. When there is any mismatch in theentered information, the ingredient data management platform 700 can usethis unmatched entered data as a feedback loop, and as such theingredient data management platform 700 can learn from this feedbackloop.

In some aspects of the present disclosure, the feedback loop thatindicates the error in matched information can prompt the ingredientdata management platform 700 to present the incorrectly matchedinformation from the label 100 to additional computing resources to makean automatic determination or to a data entry person (i.e., a humanchecker) when appropriate. By way of this example, when the informationrecognized by the OCR and graphical recognition systems matches enteredinformation from other computing resources; the entry of the informationis deemed correct with the match and received by the ingredient datamanagement platform 700. By way of this example, when the informationrecognized by the OCR and graphical recognition system can match theinformation entered by other computing resources, then it is deemed amatch and received into the ingredient data management platform 700.

With all of the constituent information 122 extracted from the label 100and the accuracy of its entry confirmed through the matching processesdescribed herein, the ingredient data management platform 700 can beginto associate (or confirm the association) of the base attributes 120 toeach piece of the constituent information 122 obtained from the label100. In the many aspects of the present disclosure and with reference toFIG. 3B, the ingredient data management platform 700 can include aningredient recognition engine 900, a claim recognition engine 902, anutrient recognition engine 904, and a rest-of-product recognitionengine 906. Each of the engines 900, 902, 904, 906 can deconstruct theinformation on the labels 100 that pertain to the engine and determinebase attributes 120 from that information by identifying the specificingredients, marketing statements, certifications, and claims.

Further aspects of the present disclosure include deconstructing text104 of the labels 100 that can include a compound ingredient listingfrom the ingredient listings. The ingredient recognition engine 900 ofthe ingredient data management platform 700 can recognize these compoundingredient listings and can deconstruct the compound ingredient listingsinto individual ingredients. In certain aspects, the base attributes 120can be automatically assigned to the individual ingredients recognizedin the compound ingredient listing and at least one of the baseattributes 120 can be associated with each of the individual ingredientsfrom the compound ingredient listing.

In other examples, the compound ingredient listing can include the textof a name of a mixture followed by a parenthetical in the listingcontaining the individual ingredients. By way of this example, baseattributes 120 can be automatically assigned to the individualingredients recognized in the compound ingredient listing and at leastone of the base attributes 120 can be associated with each of theindividual ingredients and categorized in the ingredients category. Inone example, the compound ingredient listing can be “7 Grain Flour Blend(Flaxseed, Barley, Oats, Spelt, Wheat, Corn, and Rice).” The ingredientrecognition engine 900 can determine that the beginning text thatannounces the mixture (i.e., “7 Grain Flour Bread) can be determined tonot be an ingredient and no base attributes would need to be assigned tothe 7 Grain Flour Bread beginning text. The individual ingredientslisted in the parenthetical (i.e., Flaxseed, Barley, Oats, Spelt, Wheat,Corn, and Rice), however, can have base attributes 120 associated withthem by the ingredient recognition engine 900. The beginning text thatannounces the mixture (i.e., 7 Grain Flour Bread) can be determined tobe relevant to the claim category, or other categories besides theingredient category, and can base attributes associated with thosecategories.

In further examples, the compound ingredient listing can include an“and/or” statement. By way of this example, base attributes 120 can beautomatically assigned to the constituent information 122 recognized inthe compound ingredient listing by assuming that all of the individualingredients are present. In other examples, the retail brand user canconfirm portions of ingredients in the compound ingredient listing andbase attributes 120 can be associated accordingly with the informationfrom the brand user. In one example, the compound ingredient listing canbe “Vegetable Oil (Canola, Cottonseed, and/or Sunflower).” The beginningtext that announces the mixture (i.e., “Vegetable Oil”) can bedetermined to not be an ingredient (but an overly broad term for thesepurposes) and no base attributes need to be assigned to it as anindividual oil. Vegetable Oil is nevertheless saved to the ingredientsmodule 800 for consideration of applicability to the other baseattributes. In further examples, the beginning text that announces themixture (i.e., “Vegetable Oil”) can also be determined to be aningredient and one or more of the base attributes 120 can be assigned toit. The individual ingredients listed in the parenthetical with the“and/or” statement, i.e., “Canola, Cottonseed, and/or Sunflower,” wouldhave base attributes associated and with them in the ingredientscategory. The beginning text (i.e., “Vegetable Oil”) can be determinedto be relevant to the claim category, or other categories besides theingredient category, and can have the base attributes 120 associatedwith those categories, such as an example of a presence or a lack ofpalm oil.

The claim recognition engine 902 of the ingredient data managementplatform 700 can recognize and parse all of the claims on the labels 100including those in the text, and those in graphics. The claims can be inreference to the product contained in the container, or to the containeritself, for example how it can be recycled. The nutrient recognitionengine 904 of the ingredient data management platform 700 can recognizeand parse all of the nutrients listed on the labels 100 especiallyincluding the information in the nutritional data area of the labels100. The rest-of-product recognition engine 906 of the ingredient datamanagement platform 700 can recognize and parse all of the otherinformation on the labels 100 including those in the text, and those ingraphics. The rest-of-product recognition engine 906 can identify andparse certification statements, UPC codes, manufacturer's information,and the like.

Each of the engines 900, 902, 904, 906 can deconstruct the constituentinformation 122 on the labels 100 that pertains to the products andassign base attributes 120 to that constituent information 122 byidentifying the individual ingredients, marketing statements,certifications, and claims. These engines take the plain informationfrom the label, whether it be text or graphics, or both, and assign baseattributes so that the ingredient data management platform 700 is ableto recognize every ingredient, claim, certification, or any marking,text, or graphics on the label 100. When the ingredient data managementplatform 700 is not able to recognize a word, or other text or graphicon the labels 100, the ingredient data management platform 700 can flagthe data and require further human input or further computingenvironment resources to identify it.

In many aspects, each of the engines 900, 902, 904, 906 can deconstructthe constituent information 122 on the labels 100 using pre-constructedtaxonomies of many different ingredients, nutrients, claims, and othertext and graphics found on the labels 100. The taxonomies can linkdifferent individual ingredient names by what they are the “same as”providing the ability to search and find products that contain aspecific ingredient even though that ingredient may have hundreds orthousands of unique names. Recalling the Yellow 5 examples that haveover 1,000 different names, the taxonomies can group all of the “same asYellow 5” entries together.

In the further aspects of the present disclosure, each of the engines900, 902, 904, 906 can deconstruct the constituent information 122 onthe labels 100 using rules engines to identify the many differentingredients, nutrients, claims, and other text and graphics found on thelabels 100. In other aspects of the present disclosure, each of theengines 900, 902, 904, 906 can deconstruct the constituent information122 on the labels 100 using inverted radix trees to drill down, isolateand ultimately identify all of the constituent information 122 in theform the different ingredients, nutrients, claims, and other text 104and graphics 106 found on the labels 100.

In many aspects, each of the engines 900, 902, 904, 906 afterdeconstructing the constituent information 122 on the labels 100 andassigning base attributes 120, can move the identified information tothe attribution module 950. The attribution module 950 can assign themaster attributes 124 to all of the information identified by each ofthe engines 900, 902, 904, 906 but by specifically referencing theassigned base attributes 120. With reference to FIG. 3C, the masterattributes 124 for each of the products can be directed to an indexingmodule 960 and database module 970 from the attribution module 950. Thedatabase module 970 can be an Amazon DynamoDB® brand database service.From the database module 970, the information can be passed to anenterprise search platform 980, such as a SOLR on Apache Lucene™ brandplatform. The database module 970 can move information to and from acache 990, such as cloud front cache.

From the database module 970, the cache 990, and the enterprise searchplatform 980, the information with master attributes 124 assigned andsearchable (along with the base attributes 120 and constituentinformation 122 as needed) can be made available to the many differentusers through specific user interfaces 1000 and through APIs that caninteract with user interfaces or work with other systems, as shown inFIG. 3D. The user interfaces 1000 can include a user interface 1002 on amobile device, and can also include an enterprise interface 1004 thatcan be made available or can be resident on a user's computer or privatenetwork facilities. The user interface 1000 can also include a database1006 that can be queried by a user. The user interface 1000 can alsoinclude an application 1008 that can be queried by a user remotely orused in a resident or dedicated fashion. In many aspects, the APIs caninclude a SmartLabel® brand API 1100, a provider API 1102, an enterpriseAPI 1104, a mobile API 1106, and the like. The SmartLabel brand API1100, the provider API 1102, the enterprise API 1104, and the mobile API1106 can each be a representational state transfer API. That can rely ona stateless, client-server, cacheable communications protocol. In manyaspects, the HTTP protocol or the HTTPS protocol can be used.

The various aspects of the present disclosure can include a customfilter that the ingredient data management platform 700 can use whendelivering the subset of master attributes 124 to the user. The user canestablish the custom filter so that the same arrangement of masterattributes 124, as determined by the user, can be repeatedly deliveredto the user in the same format established by the custom filter. Thecustom filter can serve as a custom specification where users canpre-configure one or more views. For example, the user may be mindful ofan allergy or irritant and when viewing products can highlight certainingredients that might affect the user undesirably.

Moreover, the user can amend the custom filter or specification usingthe customer user interface. Additionally, the data displayed in thecustom filter or specification can be normalized so that different userscan compare using the similarly configured filters of specifications.The user can also employ APIs to facilitate the data within third-partyapplications. Further aspects of the present disclosure can includedelivering the subset of the master attributes 124 to the user bypresenting the subset in a custom view having a first format based onone of the requests from the user and one of the products. In otheraspects, the user can be a brand owner and the presenting of the masterattributes 124 includes delivering the custom view having the firstformat determined through interaction with a brand user interface. Thebrand user interface can be configured to receive input from the branduser to deliver the custom view changed from the first format to asecond format where the second format based on the input from the branduser through the brand user interface.

In accordance with the many aspects of the present disclosure, the branduser interface 550 can use the brand user API 560 to access theingredient data management platform 20 for detailed information aboutthe ingredients provided by the brand users or manufacturers. To thisend, the brand user can connect between its own databases and those ofanother party with information from the ingredient data managementplatform 20. In other aspects, the ingredient data management platform20 can include the retailer user interface 590 and the retailer API 580that can access the ingredient data management platform 20 for detailedinformation about the ingredients that the retailer sells, including bydirect connection between the retailers' own databases, inventorydatabases at various retail locations and the ingredient data managementplatform 20. The consumer API 460 can access the ingredient datamanagement platform 20 for detailed information about the ingredients ofinterest to the consumer and can coordinate such ingredient data withuser applications, other medical programs, exercise programs, or socialmedia applications of the user. The consumer API 460 can also be used toconnect with computers in the home and those interfaces availablethrough the retailer and brand owner that can connect with theingredient data management platform 20 and the interfaces or mobiledevices of the consumer to provide the rich ingredient information tovarious systems directed by the user.

In further aspects, the retailer API 580 can be used to coordinate pointof sale transactions to provide the information from the ingredient datamanagement platform 20 to a third-party who can be tracking point ofsale transactions for that retailer. The retailer can know not only whatis being sold and how it is being sold, but the retailer can alsodetermine many different aspects of the overall sales and drill-downinto differing purchases based on the information from the ingredientdata management platform 20. Moreover, the consumer APIs 460 can be usedto coordinate to confirm purchases at the point of sale, tracknutrition, or use the data at the point of the sale and direct or portthat data into other user-preferred applications. The brand user APIs560 can also be used to track and perform analytics on the point of saletransactions to determine many different things including the success ofbrands in certain geographies, customer demand for certain ingredients,and the like. Every attribute that is associated with each of theproducts in the ingredient data management platform 20 can be associatedwith the product at the point of sale and the retailer, the brandowners, the consumer and various third-party tracking and dataaggregation entities can track these sales and perform analytics on theassociated data. This tracking can, in turn, provide for the selectionof items on retailers' shelves that more directed to the buying demandsof customers.

When a user identifies products of interest in one or more filters,profiles, or custom specifications, the ingredient data managementplatform 20 can automatically begin to build a health and nutritionprofile based on the detailed understanding of the attributes of thatproduct when associated with the consumer interest. For example, whenthe consumer shows interest in a sort of high fiber chocolate□coveredmuesli bars, the ingredient data management platform 20 can infer thatthe user is interested in high fiber and this interest can be added totheir profile. In a further example, the user can further indicateinterest in a preservative free bar or a low-calorie bar, or both, andtherefore the ingredient data management platform 20 can addpreservative free or low calorie, or both, to their profile.

In yet further aspects of the present disclosure, the user can be aconsumer and the consumer can access the ingredient data managementplatform 20 using the consumer user interface. The consumer userinterface can be used to provide a consumer label view that containsmore information that the label on the food product to which it relates.The consumer label view can be a SmartLabel® that is viewable throughthe consumer user interface. The SmartLabel® can conform to theSmartLabel® brand of labels. Additional aspects of the presentdisclosure include the delivering the subset of the master attributes124 including presenting the subset in the consumer label view to theconsumer through the consumer user interface.

The consumer user interface can be configured to receive QR code datafrom a mobile device of the consumer and to present the consumer labelview that pertains to the QR code on the consumer user interface that ison the mobile device. In some aspects, the consumer label view cancontain information not on the label of the food product to which the QRcode data pertains.

In other aspects, the consumer user interface can be configured todisplay the consumer label view that is limited only to the food productto which the QR code pertains. In further aspects, the consumer userinterface can be configured to display the consumer label view thatdetails a grouping of food products including the food product to whichthe QR code pertains. By way of this example, the user can search for afood product with the QR code and receive a SmartLabel® brand label orconsumer label view through the consumer user interface.

In yet further aspects of the present disclosure, the consumer userinterface can be configured to highlight to the user the food product towhich the QR code pertains relative to other food products in a groupingof food products all of which can be related to the food productinitially identified with the QR code. By way of this example, the usercan search for a food product with the QR code and receive theSmartLabel® brand label or consumer label view through the consumer userinterface that compares many related food products relative to the foodproduct identified by the QR code. In certain aspects, QR code data canbe received from the mobile device that contains at least two foodproducts. The consumer user interface can be configured to display theconsumer label view that details a grouping of food products includingthe at least two food products that pertain to the received QR codedata. In the various aspects of the present disclosure, the mobiledevice can be a smartphone, a handheld scanner, a kiosk by the consumer,and a portable computer and the consumer user interface can be on themobile device.

The SmartLabel® brand label can include several sections including theNutrition Facts Panel, Ingredients, Allergens, Marketing Claims, Health& Safety, GMO Disclosure, Product Instructions, Sustainability, andBrand/Company. Several of the sections listed in the SmartLabel® brandlabel are verbatim from the package, such as the Nutrition Facts Paneland Product Instructions sections, while others can require analysis,taxonomy based recognition and off package data generation.

In one example, the SmartLabel® brand label ingredient section canrequire that all ingredients be individually parsed and for theirparenthetical relationships to be displayed in a hierarchical fashion.The systems and methods disclosed herein can make this task relativelyeasy, as each ingredient can be parsed out individually whilemaintaining its order and parenthetical relationship to the otheringredients located within the ingredient declaration.

In further examples, the SmartLabel® brand label allergen section canhighlight the containment level of the 8 FALCPA allergens based oningredient declarations and allergen warning statements. Using thesystems and methods disclosed herein, the ingredients can be parsed andeach ingredient can be assigned FALCPA allergen properties for the threemain containment levels—Contains, May Contain and Does Not Contain. Thisresults in an analysis that can be used to determine the FALCPA allergencontainment level of each ingredient associated to an individual productbased purely on the ingredient declaration. The systems and methodsdisclosed herein further make it possible to determine more specificcontainment levels such as Facility Free, Shared Facility and SharedEquipment based only on the allergen warning statement. This result in acomprehensive allergen analysis that can be shown to allow for easyidentification of the six FALCPA allergen containment levels required aspart of the SmartLabel® brand label specification.

In an additional example, the SmartLabel® brand label marketing claimssection can use a mixture of verbatim claims generated directly from thepackage, off package claims and derived claims from other data pointsavailable on the package. The off package and derived claims can beshown to be some of the most valuable pieces of information, as they canadd additional information and marketing ability from what is on thepackage due to limited real estate on the packaging. The systems andmethods disclosed herein can provide unique derived claims that can becreated based on using additional data points from the label. Thederived attributes can offer manufacturers' a variety of options whenimplementing the SmartLabel® brand label including an FDA NutrientContent Claim that utilizes nutrient analysis per serving, per ReferenceAmounts Customarily Consumed (RACC), per 100 and main/meal/individualcategory analysis, or an ingredient absence statement that relies onattributes already determined by the disclosed systems and methods. Inother aspects of the present disclosure, the ingredient data managementplatform 700 can host at least two users and each of the users being aconsumer engaged to the ingredient data management platform 700 throughthe consumer user interface. The first consumer and the second consumereach have a mobile device with the consumer user interface. In variousaspects, the consumer user interface of the first consumer creates afirst profile based on requests from the first consumer. The consumeruser interface of the second consumer creates a second profile based onrequests from the second consumer.

In further aspects of the present disclosure, the selecting of thesubset of the master attributes 124 automatically can include selectinga first subset of the master attributes 124 automatically when a firstrequest is acknowledged from the first consumer and selecting a secondsubset of master attributes 124 automatically when a request isacknowledged from the second consumer. An example of a first subset ofmaster attributes 124 can be three attributes: no Yellow 5, no sugar,and gluten free. The first subset of the master attributes 124 is basedon a combination of the request received from the first consumer, thecontextual information associated with the product, and the firstprofile. The second subset of the master attributes 124 is based on acombination of the request received from the second consumer, thecontextual information associated with the product, and the secondprofile.

Differences between the first profile and the second profile increasewith more requests from the first user or the second user, or both. Theprofiles of each of the users can develop to a point where the firstconsumer can view a certain food product using their profile in theconsumer user interface and what they see would be very different, andin some instances, drastically different then what the second consumercan view through their profile in the consumer user interface of thesame food product.

In certain aspects of the present disclosure, the ingredient datamanagement platform 20, 700 can associate all of the constituentinformation 122 obtained from the label of a food product with foodcodes recognized by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveybased on the base attributes determined from the label. The NationalHealth and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) is a survey researchprogram conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) toassess the health and nutritional status of adults and children in theUnited States and to track changes over time. These NHANES food codescan be shown to aide in food-mapping to determine specific foodcompositions. In certain aspects of the present disclosure, the NHANESfood codes can also be shown to serve as a reference value to drive aunified global approach and global standard giving the ability toclassify every ingredient associated with the food product based on theNHANES food codes. In additional aspects of the present disclosure, theautomatic assigning master attributes 124 to each of the food productsis based on the base attributes 120 and includes applying food codesrecognized by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey tothe product based on the base attributes 120 from the ingredientscategory.

In certain aspects of the present disclosure, the ingredient datamanagement platform 20, 700 can display the information from the labels100 with reference to a reference amount customarily consumed (RACC). Inthis example, the user can be a consumer and ingredients obtained fromthe label can be displayed to the user with the RACC amounts even whenthe label lacks on RACC information. In further examples, the consumeruser interface can be configured to display the ingredients withreference to a predetermined weight per serving. In one example, thepredetermined weight per serving can be 100 grams. In further examples,the consumer user interface can be configured to display the ingredientswith reference to a recommended daily allowance.

In many aspects of the present disclosure, the brand owner can reviewand confirm the correctness of all master attributes 124, baseattributes 120, constituent information 122, and other information fromeach of its products for which labels 100 have been accepted into theingredient data management platform 700. In further aspects, the brandowners can add additional detail to or verify, or both, the informationfrom their products through the brand owner interface. The brand ownercan indicate the country of origin of the product and for eachindividual ingredient. The brand owner can further indicate at which,manufacturing facility the product is made and from where portions ofingredients have been sourced. The added information from the brandowner can be communicated to the retail user through the retail userinterface and to the consumer through the consumer interface.

In many aspects of the present disclosure, the brand owner can use thebrand user interface to display master attributes 124 associated withthe food product as selected by the brand owner to confirm and verifywhether the food product is complaint with a regulatory or certificationauthority. The master attributes 124 can be applied by the ingredientdata management platform 20 and the brand owner can be notified thatclaims on the labels 100 of the product are correct, or in someinstances, they may not be correct and can be altered. The brand userinterface can also be configured to display master attributes 124associated with the products as selected by the brand owner to confirmwhether the food product is a candidate for a certification or a claimnot already otherwise associated with the product. As such, theingredient data management platform 20 can identify for the brand ownerone or more certifications and or claims that could be applied but arenot yet on the labels 100.

In many aspects of the present disclosure, the brand owner, orretailers, or both, can use the brand user interface, retailerinterface, or a mobile application to conduct compliance checks of theirproducts before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The informationin the ingredient data management platform 20, 700 when related to foodcan be confirmed and verified by the FDA as a compliance check with FDAmandates for recalls, banned ingredients, FDA approvals, and the like.

In many aspects of the present disclosure, the consumer can use theconsumer user interface to explore the product base and all masterattributes 124, base attributes 120, and the constituent information 122in the ingredient data management platform 20, 700. As such, the usercan start a search based on a single ingredient. The user interface canapply various analytics that allows exploration of product categories atdifferent levels, such as based on ingredients and claims. For example,information from the ingredient data management platform 20 can revealthat one in five snacks, energy or granola bars in the US now makes anon-GMO claim of some kind. It can be shown that this food category thatincludes snacks, energy or granola bars is the leading category fornon-GMO claims, compared with an average of 4.2% for all the groceryproducts in its database.

In many aspects of the present disclosure, an image capturing computingsystem 1200 can perform the methods and processes discussed in thepresent application and depicted in FIG. 4. The image capturingcomputing system 1200 can include an image capture device 1210 that canfunctionally communicate with a processing unit 1220 of a computingdevice 1222 directly, or over a communications network 1230, which maybe an IP-based telecommunications network, the Internet, an intranet, alocal area network, a wireless local network, a content distributionnetwork, or any other type of communications network, as well ascombinations of networks.

The image capture device 1210 can be employed to automatically captureproduct information from a product or consumable good, such as an imageof a product label located on a portion of a product or consumable good,such as the label 100 (FIG. 2). In many aspects of the presentdisclosure, metadata identifying portions of the product label asgraphic or text may be encapsulated or otherwise embedded within thecaptured image. Although FIG. 4 only includes a single device, it iscontemplated that there may be multiple image capture devices 1210(e.g., remotely located, or scalable through a cloud network facility)that automatically capture product information including product labelsof products and/or consumable goods.

Each image capture device 1210 can include a scanner component 1212 thatcan function to obtain product information from a product or consumablegood. Stated differently, the scanner component 1212 can optically scansome portion of a product, such as the label 100, and output image datacorresponding to the scanned portion of the product. In one specificexample, the scanner 1212 may optically scan a barcode label or othermachine-readable components of the label that can be provided onconsumer products.

The image capture device 1210 can automatically transmit the productinformation (e.g., scanned image data) and any associated metadata tothe image processing unit 1220 for processing and parsing. In someaspects, the product information may have been previously captured andstored in a database for later retrieval and processing by the computingdevice 1222, such as from the product information 1232, 1234, 1236,1238.

The processing unit 1220 may employ various optical characterrecognition (OCR) programs to process, deconstruct, and parse theproduct information and/or product image data, which generates textstrings from alphanumeric label information and generates graphicsmaps/images from graphics and/or logos included in the image data of theproduct labels. The text and/or graphics data may be compared to varioustext and graphics data in a database to return information relative tothe scanned text string(s)/graphic(s). In many aspects, the imageprocessing unit 1220 can automatically parse the product labels todetermine or otherwise identify every piece of constituent information122 on the labels 100 and assign one or more base attributes 120 to eachpiece of constituent information 122 for each product, particularlyincluding all text and graphics on the label.

In many aspects, the computing device 1222 may automatically catalog andindex or otherwise store the constituent information 122 and the baseattributes 120 in a database 1240. Although the database 1240 isdepicted as being located within the computing device 1222, it will beappreciated in light of the disclosure that the database 1240 can belocated external to the computing device 1222, such as at a remotelocation or through a cloud network facility that can be connected tothe computing device 1222 through the communications network 1230.

In many aspects of the present disclosure, an exemplary technology stack1300 can be associated with the ingredient data management platform 20,as depicted in FIG. 5. The technology stack 1300 can be an embodiment ofthe technology stack in the ingredient data management platform 20. Thetechnology stack 1300 can obtain constituent information 122 and providemaster attributes 124 and additional information to views, APIs, andsearch systems in accordance with the present disclosure. The technologystack 1300 can connect to image providers 1310. The image providers 1310can provide the text 104 and graphics 106 directly from the labels 100.The image providers 1310 can include a collection app 1312 and digitalasset managers 1314 from which constituent information 122 can beexchanged or downloaded. The image providers 1310 can also include thelabels 100 from which the constituent information 122 can be obtained.Information from the image providers 1310 can be digitized at 1320. Thetechnology stack 1300 can also connect to data providers 1330. The dataproviders 1330 can provide the information relevant to each consumerproducts directly to the ingredient data management platform 20. Thedata providers 1330 can include information obtained from productinformation management 1332, the global data synchronization network1334, one or more nutritional databases 1336, and one or moreproprietary databases 1338. Information from the data providers 1330 canbe mapped at 1340.

From digitalization at 1320 and mapping at 1340, the information fromthe image providers 1310 and the data providers 1330 can be transformedat 1350. The transforming at 1350 can include the assignment of the baseattributes 120 and their organization under the master attributes 124.The transforming at 1350 can include accessing taxonomies at 1360 in theassignment of the base attributes 120. The transforming at 1350 providescontent for label views, APIs, and for search facilities as productdeliverables at 1400. As such, the product deliverables 1400 can supportlabel views 1410 (i.e., tailored views) including SmartLabel® pages1412, landing pages 1414, verification pages 1416, and the like. Theproduct deliverables 1400 can also support APIs 1420 including retailerAPIs 1422, government APIs 1424, open/free APIs 1426, and the like. Theproduct deliverables 1400 can also support information for an explorersearch 1430 so that any user can perform many different search functionson the information from the ingredient data management platform 20.

In many aspects of the present teachings and with reference to FIGS. 1,6A, 6B, and 6C, the ingredient data management platform 20 of thecomputing environment 10 including the exemplary ingredient datamanagement platform 700 (FIGS. 3A-3D) and the exemplary technology stack1300 (FIG. 4) disclosed herein may facilitate customizing, maintaining,and making portfolio wide adjustments of off-package information,detail, and further representations of content on the many products 110by the brand owner 710 or the retailer 720. As disclosed herein, thebrand owner 710 or the retailer 720 may use the ingredient datamanagement platform 20 to determine the base attributes 120 based on theidentified constituent information 122 recognized on and ingested fromthe many product labels 100. From the recognized and ingestedconstituent information 122 from the many labels 100, the ingredientdata management platform 20 may be configured to provide a selection ofthe master attributes 124 and further information available in one ormore tailored views including electronic labels 1510 such a SmartLabel®brand label, the smart food product 110 label landing page 10, the smartfood product label QR 520, the digitized smart food product label 530,and other views. In many examples, the ingredient data managementplatform 20 transforms the constituent information 122 recognized andingested from the many labels 100 and determines the master attributes124 and further information available from the products 110 labels 100.As a result, the ingredient data management platform 20 transforms andprovides information to the user not otherwise available on the productlabels 100.

In many aspects, the master attributes 124 and the further informationavailable in the one or more tailored views can be made availablethrough a publisher module 1500 that can provide or obtain a first layerof information 1502, as shown in FIGS. 6A, 6B, 6C. The first layer ofinformation 1502 can include information directly found on the productlabels 100 and information not otherwise found on but determined fromthe product labels 100 by the ingredient data management platform 20.Information directly found on the product labels can include the retailshelf offerings 160, the ingredient listings 162, the certificationlistings 164, the recycling information 166, the warning listings 168,the name of the manufacturer 170, the social media information 172, thecontainer sizes and weights 174, the machine information 176 pertainingto manufacturer, and the like, as shown in FIG. 2. The publisher module1500 can also provide, build, or create a second layer of information1504 that can be used as an editing layer that when published incombination with information from the first layer of information 1502may provide a published layer of information 1508 that can be displayedin at least a portion of an electronic label 1510 or other tailoredviews. By way of these examples, the first layer of information 1502includes in combination, information directly from the product label 100and information determined by ingredient data management platform 20that is based on the product label 100 but not actually written ordepicted on the product label 100.

The second layer of information 1504 can be populated with theinformation from the first layer of information 1502. The publishermodule 1500 can be configured so the brand owner 710 or the retailer 720can amend, edit, re-arrange, delete, and/or otherwise modify anyinformation in the second layer of information 1504. As disclosedherein, those changes can only be made to the second layer ofinformation 1504. In addition, the publisher module 1500 can beconfigured so the brand owner 710 or the retailer 720 cannot amend,edit, re-arrange, delete, and/or otherwise modify any information in thefirst layer of information 1502. The ability of the brand owner 710 orthe retailer 720 to quickly amend and publish the information from thesecond layer of information 1504 and make the information almostimmediately available to users is a powerful tool to update theelectronic label 1510 for multiple products 110 without the need toupdate, reprint, or push any changes or updates out to the actual printpackaging and labels 100 for the actual products. The publisher module1500 may also be configured to accept a change, an edit, an amendment,or another modification to the information in the second layer ofinformation 1504 and make one or more changes across the sameingredient, package information, nutritional claim, or others that alsoexist in the second layer of information 1504 when directed through thepublisher module 1500.

To the benefit of the brand owner 710 or the retailer 720, the firstlayer of information 1502 not only may contain information from productlabels 100 but also contain additional information determined by theingredient data management platform 20 that can add additional detail,certifications, warnings, allergy information, and other information asneeded and disclosed herein. As such, the publisher module 1500 can beconfigured to use to the first layer of information 1502 to specificallypre-populate and memorialize its information in the second layer ofinformation 1504. The brand owner 710 or the retailer 720, in turn, maynot be permitted to alter in any way the information in the first layerof information 1502. As an example, the information in the first layerof information 1502 is locked, fixed, or may not be modified and cannotbe changed by the brand owner 710 or the retailer 720 (unless there are,for example, changes to underlying ingredients or other informationphysically on the label 100 of the product 110 itself). The second layerof information 1504 can, therefore, be configured to supersede,substitute, and/or mask and also incorporate or wholly pass throughinformation from the first layer of information 1502 when informationfrom the first layer of information 1502 and the second layer ofinformation 1504 are published through the publisher module 1500 in oneor more of the electronic labels 1510 by the brand owner 710 or theretailer 720. As such, any additional information, any changes toinformation, and any removal of information, relative to what is setforth in the first layer of information 1502 can be memorialized in thesecond layer of information 1504 and publication of the information fromthe at least two layers of information 1502, 1504 can determine what theuser can view through one or more tailored views including theelectronic labels 1510, the SmartLabel® brand label, and the like.

In many aspects, the methods and systems herein include a system for thebrand owner 710 or the retailer 720 to publish a portion of theelectronic label 1510 for view by a user that contains additionalinformation beyond what is set forth on the product label 100 on theproduct 110 associated with the brand owner 710 or the retailer 720. Ingeneral, the system includes the ingredient data management platform 20that generates the first layer of information 1502, and that includes incombination, information from the product label 100 and attributes 124determined from the information from the product label 100 but notlisted on the product label 100. The system also includes the publishermodule 1500 of the ingredient data management platform 20 that generatesthe second layer of information 1504. The publisher module 1500populates the second layer of information 1504 with information from thefirst layer of information 1502. The publisher module 1500 is configuredto receive changes to the second layer of information 1504 from thebrand owner 710 or the retailer 720, and publish the second layer ofinformation 1504 with the changes from the brand owner 710 or theretailer 720 to the portion of the electronic label 1510. The ingredientdata management platform 20 is configured to accept changes from thebrand owner 710 or the retailer 720 to the second layer of information1504 and prevent changes to the first layer of information 1502 from thebrand owner 710 or the retailer 720.

In many aspects, the publisher module 1500 may allow the brand owner 710and the retailer 720 to make changes to the ingredient name and/ordescription presented by editing the name and/or description, deletingthe name and/or description, or replacing the name and/or descriptionentirely with some other content.

In FIG. 6A, the changes to the second layer of information 1504 may onlyadd information relative to information 1520 in the first layer ofinformation 1502. The added information 1522 in the second layer ofinformation 1504 is, therefore, viewable in combination with theinformation 1520 that was pre-populated into the second layer ofinformation 1504 from the first layer of information 1502 and viewableas the published layer of information 1508 through the electronic label1510.

In FIG. 6B, the changes to the second layer of information 1504 onlysubtract information relative to information 1530 in the first layer ofinformation 1502. Edited information 1532 in the second layer ofinformation 1504 removes information at 1520 that was pre-populated intothe second layer of information 1504 from the first layer of information1502. The edited information 1522 from the second layer of information1504 is viewable as the published layer of information 1508 through theelectronic label 1510.

In FIG. 6C, the changes to the second layer of information 1504 includea combination of edits, deletions, additions, and other modificationsrelative to information 1540 in the first layer of information 1502.Edited information 1542 in the second layer of information 1504 removesfrom and adds to information 1520 that was pre-populated into the secondlayer of information 1504 from the first layer of information 1502. Theedited information 1542 from the second layer of information 1504 isviewable as the published layer of information 1508 through theelectronic label 1510. In FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C, any edited information1522, 1532, and 1542 in the second layer of information 1504 onlyremoves from (i.e., by hiding or obscuring from view) and/or adds toinformation 1520, 1530, and 1540 that was pre-populated into the secondlayer of information 1504 from the first layer of information 1502. Theedited information 1522, 1532, and 1542 from the second layer ofinformation 1504 in no way alters the information 1520 1530, and 1540 asit resides in the first layer of information 1502.

In the many aspects, the publisher module 1500 publishes the secondlayer of information 1504 with the changes from the retailer 720 or thebrand owner 710 to the portion of the electronic label 1510 that hide aportion of the information from the first layer of information 1502 fromview in the electronic label 1510.

In the many aspects, the publisher module 1500 publishes the secondlayer of information 1504 with the changes from the retailer 720 or thebrand owner 710 to the portion of the electronic label 1510 that includeadditional information relative to the information from the first layerof information 1502.

In the many aspects, the publisher module 1500 publishes the secondlayer of information 1504 with the changes from the retailer 720 or thebrand owner 710 to the portion of the electronic label 1510 that hide aportion of the information from the first layer of information 1502 fromview in the electronic label 1510 and that include additionalinformation relative to the information from the first layer ofinformation 1502.

In the many aspects, the publisher module 1500 is configured to publishimmediately to the electronic label 1510, the second layer ofinformation 1504, at a request of the retailer 720 or the brand owner710.

In the many aspects, the publisher module 1500 is configured to publishto the electronic label 1510, the second layer of information 1504, whenthe retailer 720 or the brand owner 710 obtains a pre-determined numberof approvals.

In the many aspects, the ingredient data management platform 20generates the first layer of information 1502 based on multiple productlabels 100 including information common to each of the multiple productlabels 100. The publisher module 1500 is configured to receive changesto the second layer of information 1504 about one of the multipleproduct labels 100 from the retailer 720 or the brand owner 710. Thepublisher module 1500 publishes the second layer of information 1504with the changes to all of the multiple product labels 100 based on thechanges associated with the one of the multiple product labels 100.

In the many aspects, the publisher module 1500 of the ingredient datamanagement platform 20 is configured to receive the changes to thesecond layer of information 1504 and configured to track and maintain aledger of the changes from which a previous version of the second layerof information 1504 is accessible.

In the many aspects, the portion of the electronic label 1510 isconfigured to provide information related to a SmartLabel® brand label.

In the many aspects, the electronic label 1510 is accessible from amobile device that is selected from a group consisting of at least oneof a smartphone, a handheld scanner, a kiosk by the consumer, awearable, and a computer.

In the many aspects, the portion of the electronic label 1510 is alsoconfigured to display serving size information. The serving sizeinformation is selected from a group consisting of at least one of areference amount customarily consumed, a user-adjustable weight perserving, one hundred grams of weight per serving, and a recommendeddaily allowance.

In the many aspects, one of the products 110 having a product label 100is selected from a group consisting of at least one of foods, beverages,consumer packaged goods, personal items, pet care products, clothing,toys for children, lawn care products, window stickers for vehicles,heating, ventilation, air conditioning products, and bedding products.

In many aspects, the publisher module 1500 may allow the brand owner 710or the retailer 720 to tell a story behind a product such as a farm thatgrows the product, a family business, and ingredients with a longtradition, famous ingredients or a location, an expensive or rarecomponent, an exclusive deal, and the like. Although embodiments hereinrefer to descriptions of ingredients, any content in any portion of theelectronic label 1510 may be treated similarly. As an example, claimsmade on the product packaging, such as “gluten-free” and others may bealtered, edited, explained further, and otherwise changed and madeavailable through the electronic label 1510 so the brand owner 710 orthe retailer 720 may standardize the claim, replace the detected claimwith a corresponding company-specific claim, substitute the productpackaging claim (or standardize a company-specific claim) with aproduct-specific version of the claim, and make another change to theclaim.

In many aspects, many or all of these changes may be tracked, kept in aledger or other auditable files, logs, change records, or the like thatare associated with the second layer of information 1504. In manyaspects, by tracking changes, such as through the ingredient dataplatform that may treat each change as an event that can be recreated,each edited version of an electronic label 1510 may be associated with astate of the electronic label 1510, such as default (e.g., using onlythe base ingredient descriptions), edited pending (changed but not yetpublished), and published (a version of the electronic label 1510 thatis made available generally to the public, but at least to other usersof the ingredient data management platform 20. Additional internalstates, such as those within the “edited pending” state may be trackedas well, including, for example, edited pending approval, reviewed,approved, not approved, and other states. Previous version states can beeasily selected and then immediately published through the electroniclabel 1510 to remove any unwanted change, version, or modification or togenerate that version for later internal or external review, judicialproceedings, administrative review, or other review.

Through change tracking and the like, the publisher module 1500 mayimplement an off-package content management system for ingredients,claims, product images, packaging images, packaging information, and thelike with the ingredient data management platform 20 that facilitatesand maintains a ledger of changes and edits. This ledger may bestructured to permit later audit from the brand owner 710, the retailer720, or other applicable entities. The tracking of changes mayfacilitate managing each piece of information associated with theproduct 110 throughout its product lifetime so that one change throughthe publisher module 1500 can force a change throughout the entireportfolio of products 110. However, the change may only be made to thesecond layer of information 1504 and not directly to the first layer ofinformation 1502 to maintain the integrity of what populates the firstlayer of information 1502 (e.g., the transformations performed by theingredient data management platform 20 on the constituent information122 on the product labels 100).

In many aspects, the publisher module 1500 may be configured tointroduce a hierarchy in creating, managing, and determining the finalportions of information and what layers of information those portionsare from for ultimate publication to the user through the electroniclabel 1510. In many examples, the first layer of information 1502 andthe information contained therein that is determined by the ingredientdata management platform 20 may be disposed at a lowest (e.g., adefault) level of a hierarchy. In this arrangement, all (or most) of theinformation at this lowest (default) level of the hierarchy may be usedif no other description or change to the description is available. Assuch, the information from the first layer of information 1502 may beduplicated, pushed, or otherwise accepted into and used to pre-fill thesecond layer of information 1504. Pre-filling the second layer ofinformation 1504, in effect, creates a new information branch thatfacilitates changes to the information that is required to be done inthe second layer of information 1504 and specifically ensures theintegrity and therefore avoids all changes to the first layer ofinformation 1502 by the brand owner 710 or the retailer 720.

In many aspects, ingredient descriptions from an ingredient descriptionlibrary or other collection of content from the brand owner 710 or theretailer 720 may be next on the hierarchy and when available, replaceingredients or other information initially populated into the secondlayer of information 1504. In this situation, the pre-existing companyingredient description may be presented instead of the defaultdescription (e.g., lower in the hierarchy) from the first layer ofinformation 1502. In one example, this can be a wholesale replacement oftext. In another example, the wording can be edited and changed on aword-by-word basis. In a further example, some portions can be editedwhile others can have wholesale replacement. In an additional example,whole new sections and descriptions can be added to insert informationnot contemplated in the first layer of information 1502. In the manyexamples, the changes from the brand owner 710 or the retailer 720 tothe second layer of information 1504 that edit (in at least part or inwhole) the information pre-filled from the first layer of information1502 and those changes can be performed on a portfolio-wide basis andtherefore may be reflected in any electronic label 1510 that displaysinformation about that product 110. This means that when the brandowners 710 or the retailers 720 have an ingredient that is found in manyproducts 110 across their portfolio, the publisher module 1500 can beconfigured to make and accept a change to one instance of thatingredient or other information as it related to one of the productlabels 100 but otherwise accept that change as a change that is global(or partially global with predefined rules) across the portfolio. Inmany aspects, certain company ingredient descriptions and/or baseingredient descriptions may be marked so that they have precedence overother descriptions of the same ingredient. This may be based on companypolicy as well as based on other aspects and may be detectable throughmetadata associated with the one or more ingredients, products 110,retail brand offerings, markets in countries or regions, and the like.In many aspects, each level in a hierarchy may include the relevantdescription, a link to the relevant description, or include additionalinformation.

In many aspects, an order of ingredient descriptions or other content inthe hierarchy may impact an ability of the brand owner 710 or theretailer 720 to make bulk changes to information viewable through theelectronic label 1510. Making a change to a company ingredientdescription may result in conformance with the new company descriptionwhen the company description has precedence over what the ingredientdata management platform 20 has prepopulated from recognizing anddetermining information from the many product labels 100.

In many aspects, changes to an ingredient description or otherinformation, such as a description of an ingredient in acompany-specific library, may impact the electronic label 1510 for somebut not all products 110 that the company offers that include thespecific ingredient. This may, for example, be due to the brand owner710 or the retailer 720 editing a company ingredient description for aparticular product's electronic label 1510. In many aspects, methods,and systems for automatically auditing an impact of a portfolio-wideingredient description change may facilitate automatically identifyingproducts 110 that include the ingredient but whose electronic label 1510is impacted and is not impacted by the description change. All products110, such as those products that have been processed with the ingredientdata management platform 20, with a given ingredient or otherconstituent information 122 may be identified for a given company,brand, retail label, region offering, or the like through an ingredientcross-reference function, the cross-product interaction analysis 260,and the like that may facilitate matching master attributes 124 to manyapplicable products 110 given their common ingredients and otherconstituent information 122.

In many aspects, a further automated process may review metadata foreach of the many products 110 identified including a given ingredient orother constituent information 122 (e.g., information that describeswhich ingredient description is used in an electronic label 1510 for aproduct 110) and identifies instances in the many products 110 that usea different ingredient description than, for example, the companyingredient descriptions. In this way, a list of products 110 thatinclude the ingredient or other constituent information 122 but whoseelectronic label 1510 may not reflect a desired change made to a companyingredient description can be generated for processing. For each of thebrand owners 710 or the retailers 720, one or more ingredientdescription validation processes can be established to manage and tolimit (or expand) the portfolio-wide changes and updates. For theexample description sources in the many embodiments, the electroniclabel 1510 for a product 110 may not be impacted by a change to acompany ingredient description of the electronic label 1510 that isconfigured to use the base ingredient description, an edited ingredientdescription, or if the description for the ingredient is not being shownin at least a published version of the electronic label 1510. Likewise,if a base ingredient description is updated and either the companyingredient description or the edited ingredient description for a givenproduct 110 electronic label 1510 is used, the electronic label 1510 maybe flagged as not being impacted by the update.

In many aspects, the ingredient data management platform 20 mayintegrate with company workflows, such as workflows for confirminginformation in an electronic label 1510 prior to the electronic label1510 being published, updates to company-specific ingredientdescriptions, product information, and the like. The ingredient datamanagement platform 20 may be configured to obtain confirmation of oneor more data elements that may be accessible (or accessible withpre-determined permissions) to users at the brand owner 710, theretailer 720, or other applicable entities with specific roles, such aseditor, compliance officers, brand managers, and other roles that mayparticipate in a workflow for publishing the electronic labels 1510 forthe many products 110. In many aspects, each of the many users may beassigned a specific role and therefore may be provided access to arole-specific confirmation data element. In many aspects, the ingredientdata management platform 20 may interface with external systems thatrole-specific users use to indicate confirmation of portions of theelectronic label 1510. The user may indicate, such as by replying to anemail, message, notification, system communication, or the like from theingredient data management platform 20 with CONFIRMED (or a suitableconfirmatory statement) in the reply email that the electronic label1510 is confirmed. The ingredient data management platform 20 may updatethe role-specific confirmation data element accordingly and publish thesame through the electronic labels 1510. Other forms of informationexchange, confirmation changes, approved results, and the like betweenthe ingredient data management platform 20 and external systems may alsobe used in this way other than email such as electronic messaging, webbrowser interfacing, APIs, and the like.

In many aspects, the brand user interface 550, the retailer userinterface 590, and other applicable interfaces of the ingredient datamanagement platform 20 may include a package image section and a textsection of the many products 110. The image section may include aplurality of thumbnails of packaging views of the many products 110,wherein a selected thumbnail is enlarged in the product 110 imagesection. The product 110 image section may also provide user interfacecapabilities such as zoom, pan, and the like. In many aspects, the imagesection may be view-only, whereas the text section may support editing,deleting, and entering text. The text section may include a plurality ofpanels, where only one of the panels is visible at a time. Each panelmay present a group of associated text entries, such as ingredients,claims, allergens, nutritional information, and the like. A user mayselect a text panel independently of an image thumbnail. In manyaspects, when a user selects a text panel, such as ingredients, acorresponding enlarged packaging image of one of the products 110 thatincludes these may be responsively displayed in the image section. Asthe user navigates within the text section, relevant portions of theenlarged image in the image section may be highlighted. In manyexamples, when a user selects an ingredient description for editing, thecorresponding ingredient text in the image section may be highlighted inits greater context. The text section may include a plurality of tabs,each tab associated with a panel of associated text entries. A user mayselect a tab, review, and edit contents of the tab, and select anothertab, and perform other actions. In many aspects, when a user selects,for example, an ingredient in an ingredient tab of the text section, acontext portion of the user interface may automatically update toreflect context for the selected ingredient. Context in this example,may include an indication of the active source of the description, suchas a description directly from the product labels 100, descriptiondetermined (e.g., transformed) from the product labels 100, acompany-specific description, an edited ingredient description and thelike. Other context may include whether there is correspondinginformation in other tabs, such as allergen information, claims,nutritional content, and other information to be reviewed if thedescription of the ingredient is changed. Yet other information mayinclude product recipe information, such as an amount of the ingredientin a unit of the product 110, and other information.

In many aspects, the ingredient data management platform 20 may includeingestion, processing, and export modules that may work collaborativelyto provide the services of the ingredient data management platform 20 tothird parties, such as product manufacturers and other third parties.The methods and systems described herein for generating andstandardizing content, such as ingredient descriptions, claims,allergens, and other content with the ingredient data managementplatform 20 for the electronic label 1510, may also be made availablefor external use, such as through an export module of the publishingsystem and/or through an API and the like that an external system mayuse to access the publisher module 1500.

In many aspects, the ingredient data management platform 20 may beconfigured so that during ingestion and/or processing of ingredients forconfiguring the electronic label 1510 for the products 110, certaininformation may be automatically populated into its proper destinationand corresponding data fields in the electronic label 1510 for thecorresponding products 110. When viewed through the various userinterfaces of the ingredient data management platform 20, the ingestedinformation may appear in a corresponding tab of text information, suchas nutrition attributes may appear in a nutrition tab and allergenattributes may appear in an allergen tab. The populated information maybe linked to the corresponding ingredient so that further processing ofthe ingredient may result in the corresponding attribute valueautomatically being adjusted. In an example, a soy ingredient may beprocessed with the attribution facility that may generate informationfor allergens (e.g., a soy allergy warning), claims (e.g., “containssoy”), and the like. When users of the publisher module 1500 adjust thesoy ingredient (e.g., by reducing an amount of soy and/or removing soyentirely, and in other ways), the adjusted ingredient list may beprocessed through the ingredient data management platform 20 and may beautomatically updated in the electronic label 1510 for the products 110.Any changes to the information may be viewable upon accessing thecorresponding tab in the text window of the ingredient data managementplatform 20 when the affected product 110 is accessed. As an example, ifa soy ingredient is removed, soy warning claims and other claims may beremoved from the electronic label 1510. In many aspects, each change,such as these automated changes may be tracked with a change trackingsystem that enables determining when changes occur to the electroniclabel 1510 data set and who caused the changes.

In many aspects, the ingredient data management platform 20 may includea harmonizer module 1600 that facilitates multiple overlapping layers ofinformation combinable into the electronic label 1510 based on a rangeof criteria including, without limitation, a role of a user viewing theelectronic label 1510, one or more states of the electronic label 1510,change status of individual pieces of information in the layers ofinformation that combine to publish in the electronic label 1510 and inother locations. In many aspects, in addition to facilitatingcriteria-based views of an electronic label 1510, the harmonizer module1600 may facilitate harmonizing a plurality of layers of information1602 that may be combinable into the electronic label 1510 including thefirst layer of information 1502 and the second layer of information 1504to produce a published layer of information 1604 having publishedinformation 1608. Other layers of information from the plurality oflayers of information 1602 can be populated from various sources such assupply chain information 1610 (e.g., ingredient sourcing, and the like),content ownership information 1612, third-party data 1614 (e.g.,standards organizations, such as government, industry, and the like),regional rules and regulations 1618, and others.

In many aspects, the harmonizer module 1600 may include information froma range of sources, such as those noted above and that information maybe harmonized into individual published layers of information 1604viewable through the electronic label 1510. Each of the sources can be alayer of information. With the publisher module 1500, a new layer ofinformation can be created from an existing layer of information to makeedits, changes, and other modifications to that information in the newlayer while maintaining the integrity of (e.g., preventing changes) theexisting layer of information. Each of the layers of information canalso have information branches. Each version of each layer ofinformation can be a node on the branch. The harmonizer module 1600 canassemble each layer of information for view depending on the needs ofthe request but can also be used in tandem with the publisher module1500 to create new branches such that later versions can becomeadditional versions on those branches.

In many aspects, the many sources for the harmonizer module 1600 mayinclude a master source such as the information found in the first layerof information 1502 provided by the ingredient data management platform20, a brand source that may be described herein as a brand orcompany-specific library providing information that is specific to thebrand for each product, Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN) ofinteroperable data pools and registry, digital asset management systems(DAMs) and the like for images of products and the like, ingredientsupply chain data that may be sourced from a plurality of participantsin an ingredient supply chain, product 110 processingfacilities/factories, sustainability programs, regionalization ofproducts 110 (e.g., local sourcing of some ingredients for products 110sold in certain regions), and others.

In many aspects, harmonizing such data may include determining multiplesources of data for a common attribute, such as industry, brand, andother sources followed by ordering the sources according to a set ofharmonizing rules 1630 so that conflicting data is resolved for a givenview of the electronic label 1510. As an example, a supply chainprovider for an ingredient according to brand information may bedifferent than a regional provider for a geographic region. If, in theseexamples, harmonizing rules 1630 indicate that regional providers shouldbe prioritized over brand providers, then a view of an electronic label1510 for a product 110 being provided in a geographic region would bethe regional provider. If there is no regional provider that correspondsto a region attribute of a view of the electronic label 1510, then thebrand provider would be used. In further examples, an allergen attributemay automatically adjust regionally. A soy ingredient in the U.S. mayinvoke an allergen attribute associated with a soy allergy claim.However, that same ingredient in Vietnam may not invoke an allergenattribute. Therefore, the publisher layer of information 1604 for theelectronic label 1510 for the product 110 in the U.S. may include theallergen warning. But an electronic label 1510 for the same product 110in Vietnam may not include the allergen warning.

In many aspects, the first layer of information 1502 can be associatedwith a first information branch 1700 whose access rights are limited andchanges are restricted and therefore can be considered the masterbranch. The initial version of the first layer of information 1502 canbe memorialized in a first information branch node A 1702. Later versionof the master branch information (e.g., later versions of the firstlayer of information 1502) can be memorialized in later firstinformation branch node B 1704 (i.e., branch 1 node B 1704), branch onenode C 1708, branch one node D 1710, branch one node E 1712, and others.The publisher module 1500 may be used to edit information found in themaster branch (e.g., branch one) but all of those edits and any changesrelative to the master branch are memorialized in the second informationbranch 1720 at node A 1722. Each of the nodes of the second branch canbe versions of the information that can be directed to the electroniclabel 1510 for viewing and therefore can be referred to as theSmartLabel® Branch in some examples. The second information branch caninclude subsequent versions and those can be memorialized at node B 1704of the second information branch 1720 (e.g., branch two node B 1724),branch two node C 1728, and others. A new node 1730 can be formed fromthe latest version of information in the first information branch 1700and the second information branch 1720. The node 1730 may containinformation 1732 and the branch may contain addition nodes 1734 from theingredient data management platform 20 and from the brand owner 710 orthe retailer 720.

In many aspects, the harmonizer module 1600 may maintain the integrityof the first information branch 1700 and versions of the first layer ofinformation 1502 associated with the nodes 1702, 1704, 1708, 1710, and1712 so that when anyone makes use of information from the first layerof information 1502, the same information is available for the sameingredients and other information from on the product labels 100. Thepublisher module 1500, therefore, allows the brand owner 710 or theretailer 720 to edit, augment, hide, flourish, or otherwise change anyor all information from the first information branch 1700 by requiringall of those changes to occur in the second information branch 1702. Thepublisher module 1500 can be used to make these changes to any of thebranches of information when there is a need to separate and trackchanges to information and the initial source of information to whichthose changes can be made.

In many aspects, the harmonizer module 1600 may further combine theplurality of layers of information 1602 including information 1640 froma third layer of information 1642, information 1650 from a fourth layerof information 1652, information 1660 from a shift leader of information1662, and more or less as needed to produce the published information1670 on the public layer of information 1604 viewable with theelectronic label 1510 through various devices and interfaces. In manyexamples, the initial version of the third layer of information 1642 canbe memorialized in a third information branch 1740 at node A 1742. Inmany examples, the third information branch 1740 is associated withinformation from a Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN) of productinformation. Later versions of the third branch information (e.g., laterversions of the third layer of information 1642) can be memorialized inlater third information branch node B 1744 (e.g., branch three node B1744), branch three node C 1748, and the like.

In many examples, the initial version of the fourth layer of information1652 can be memorialized in a fourth information branch 1750 at node A1752. In many examples, the fourth information branch 1750 is associatedwith information from a Product Information Management (PIM) system.Later versions of the fourth branch information (e.g., later versions ofthe fourth layer of information 1652) can be memorialized in laterfourth information branch node B 1752 (e.g., branch four node B 1752),branch three node C 1754, and the like. A new node 1760 can be formedfrom the latest version of information the second information branch1720 and the fourth information branch 1750. In this example, the node1760 may contain information 1762 and the branch may contain additionnodes 1764 from the ingredient data management platform 20 through thepublisher module 1500, from the brand owner 710 or the retailer 720, andinformation from a PIM system associated with the fourth branch ofinformation 1750 from the brand owner 710 or the retailer 720.

In many aspects, the harmonizer module 1600 can be configured to acceptmultiple branches of data from many different sources allowing for themerger of one or more branches into new branches that can each servecertain purposes such as different stakeholders, regions, markets,languages, and other purposes but also permit customization of anybranch while leaving the sources of information (e.g., one or more ofthe branches being combined) as unmodified for combination with otherbranches for other purposes.

In the many aspects, the ingredient data management platform 20 mayharmonize a portion of the electronic label 1510 for view by a user thatcontains additional information beyond what is set forth on the productlabels 100 of the products associated with the retailer 720 or the brandowner 710. The ingredient data management platform 20 generates thefirst layer of information 1502 that includes in combination,information from the product labels 100 and attributes determined fromthe information from the product labels 100 but not listed on theproduct labels 100. The ingredient data management platform 20 alsoincludes a harmonizer module 1600 that generates a second layer ofinformation 1504, that populates the second layer of information 1504with information from the first layer of information 1502, that isconfigured to receive at least a third layer of information 1642including information about the products 110 associated with the productlabels 100, and that publishes the second layer of information 1504 incooperation with the third layer of information 1642 including a portionof the third layer information 1642 that is additional relative to thesecond layer of information 1504. The harmonizer module 1600 isconfigured to prevent changes to the first layer of information 1502from at least one of the user, the retailer 720, and the brand owner710.

In the many aspects, the harmonizer module 1600 is configured to receivea plurality of layers of information 1602 including information aboutthe products 110 associated with the product labels 100. The harmonizermodule 1600 is configured to publish the second layer of information1504 in cooperation with the plurality of layers of information 1602including a portion of the plurality of layers of information 1602 thatis additional relative to the second layer of information 1504 and aportion of the plurality of layers of information 1602 that replaces aportion of the second layer of information 1504.

In the many aspects, a portion of the plurality of layers of information1602 is configured to replace a portion of the second layer ofinformation 1504.

In the many aspects, the ingredient data management platform 20 furtherincludes the publisher module 1500 that generates an additional layer ofinformation, that populates the additional layer of information withinformation from the third layer of information 1642, that is configuredto receive changes to the additional layer of information from theretailer 720 or the brand owner 710 associated with the populatedinformation 1640 from the third layer of information 1642, and thatpublishes the additional layer of information with the changes from theretailer 720 or the brand owner 710 to a portion of the electronic label1510. The publisher module 1500 is configured to accept changes from theretailer 720 or the brand owner 710 to the additional layer ofinformation and prevent changes to the third layer of information 1642from the retailer 720 or the brand owner 710.

In the many aspects, the publisher module 1500 of the ingredient datamanagement platform 20 is configured to receive the changes to theadditional layer of information and configured to track and maintain aledger of the changes from which a previous version of the additionallayer of information is accessible.

In the many aspects, the ingredient data management platform 20generates a first layer of information 1502 that includes incombination, information from the product labels 100 and attributesdetermined from the information from the product labels 100 but notlisted on the product labels 100. The ingredient data managementplatform 20 includes the publisher module 1500 that generates the secondlayer of information 1504, that populates the second layer ofinformation 1504 with information from the first layer of information1502, and that is configured to receive changes to the second layer ofinformation 1504 from the retailer or the brand owner associated withthe populated information from the first layer of information 1502. Theingredient data management platform 20 also includes the harmonizermodule 1600. The harmonizer module 1600 may receive at least the thirdlayer of information 1642 including information about the products 110associated with the product labels 100, and publish the second layer ofinformation 1504 in cooperation with the third layer of information 1642including a portion of the third layer information 1642 that isadditional relative to the second layer of information 1504 and thesecond layer of information 1504 includes the changes from the retailer720 or the brand owner 710 to the portion of the electronic label 1510.The publisher module 1500 may accept changes from the retailer 720 orthe brand owner 710 to the second layer of information 1504 and preventchanges to the first layer of information 1502 from the retailer 720 orthe brand owner 710.

In the many aspects, the harmonizer module 1600 is configured to receivea plurality of layers of information 1602 including information aboutthe products 110 associated with the product labels 100. The harmonizermodule 1600 is configured to publish the second layer of information1504 in cooperation with the plurality of layers of information 1602including a portion of the plurality of layers of information 1602 thatis additional relative to the second layer of information 1504 and aportion of the plurality of layers of information 1602 that replaces aportion of the second layer of information 1504.

While various aspects of the present disclosure have been shown anddescribed, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that manychanges and modifications may be made thereunto without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the present disclosure as described in thefollowing claims. All patent applications and patents, both foreign anddomestic, and all other publications referenced herein are incorporatedherein in their entireties to the full extent permitted by law.

The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in part or inwhole through a machine that executes computer software, program codes,and/or instructions on a processor. The present disclosure may beimplemented as a method on the machine, as a system or apparatus as partof or in relation to the machine, or as a computer program productembodied in a computer readable medium executing on one or more of themachines. In various aspects of the present disclosure, the processormay be part of a server, cloud server, client, network infrastructure,mobile computing platform, stationary computing platform, or othercomputing platforms. A processor may be any kind of computational orprocessing device capable of executing program instructions, codes,binary instructions, and the like. The processor may be or may include asignal processor, digital processor, embedded processor, microprocessor,or any variant such as a co-processor (math co-processor, graphicco-processor, communication co-processor and the like) and the like thatmay directly or indirectly facilitate execution of program code orprogram instructions stored thereon.

In addition, the processor may enable execution of multiple programs,threads, and codes. The threads may be executed simultaneously toenhance the performance of the processor and to facilitate simultaneousoperations of the application. By way of implementation, methods,program codes, program instructions and the like described herein may beimplemented in one or more thread. The thread may spawn other threadsthat may have assigned priorities associated with them; the processormay execute these threads based on priority or any other order based oninstructions provided in the program code. The processor, or any machineutilizing one, may include non-transitory memory that stores methods,codes, instructions, and programs as described herein and elsewhere. Theprocessor may access a non-transitory storage medium through aninterface that may store methods, codes, and instructions as describedherein and elsewhere. The storage medium associated with the processorfor storing methods, programs, codes, program instructions or other typeof instructions capable of being executed by the computing or processingdevice may include but may not be limited to one or more of a CD-ROM,DVD, memory, hard disk, flash drive, RAM, ROM, cache, and the like.

A processor may include one or more cores that may enhance speed andperformance of a multiprocessor. In certain aspects, the process may bea dual core processor, quad core processors, other chip-levelmultiprocessor and the like that combine two or more independent cores(called a die).

The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in part or inwhole through a machine that executes computer software on a server,client, firewall, gateway, hub, router, or other such computer and/ornetworking hardware. The software program may be associated with aserver that may include a file server, print server, domain server,internet server, intranet server, cloud server, and other variants suchas secondary server, host server, distributed server, and the like. Theserver may include one or more of memories, processors, computerreadable media, storage media, ports (physical and virtual),communication devices, and interfaces capable of accessing otherservers, clients, machines, and devices through a wired or a wirelessmedium, and the like. The methods, programs, or codes as describedherein and elsewhere may be executed by the server. In addition, otherdevices required for execution of methods as described in thisapplication may be considered as a part of the infrastructure associatedwith the server.

The server may provide an interface to other devices including, withoutlimitation, clients, other servers, printers, database servers, printservers, file servers, communication servers, distributed servers,social networks, and the like. Additionally, this coupling and/orconnection may facilitate remote execution of program across thenetwork. The networking of some or all of these devices may facilitateparallel processing of a program or method at one or more locationwithout deviating from the scope of the disclosure. In addition, any ofthe devices attached to the server through an interface may include atleast one storage medium capable of storing methods, programs, codeand/or instructions. A central repository may provide programinstructions to be executed on different devices. In thisimplementation, the remote repository may act as a storage medium forprogram code, instructions, and programs.

The software program may be associated with a client that may include afile client, print client, domain client, internet client, intranetclient and other variants such as secondary client, host client,distributed client, and the like. The client may include one or more ofmemories, processors, computer readable media, storage media, ports(physical and virtual), communication devices, and interfaces capable ofaccessing other clients, servers, machines, and devices through a wiredor a wireless medium, and the like. The methods, programs, or codes asdescribed herein and elsewhere may be executed by the client. Inaddition, other devices required for execution of methods as describedin this application may be considered as a part of the infrastructureassociated with the client.

The client may provide an interface to other devices including, withoutlimitation, servers, other clients, printers, database servers, printservers, file servers, communication servers, distributed servers, andthe like. Additionally, this coupling and/or connection may facilitateremote execution of program across the network. The networking of someor all of these devices may facilitate parallel processing of a programor method at one or more location without deviating from the scope ofthe disclosure. In addition, any of the devices attached to the clientthrough an interface may include at least one storage medium capable ofstoring methods, programs, applications, code and/or instructions. Acentral repository may provide program instructions to be executed ondifferent devices. In this implementation, the remote repository may actas a storage medium for program code, instructions, and programs.

The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in part or inwhole through network infrastructures. The network infrastructure mayinclude elements such as computing devices, servers, routers, hubs,firewalls, clients, personal computers, communication devices, routingdevices and other active and passive devices, modules and/or componentsas known in the art. The computing and/or non-computing device(s)associated with the network infrastructure may include, apart from othercomponents, a storage medium such as flash memory, buffer, stack, RAM,ROM, and the like. The processes, methods, program codes, instructionsdescribed herein and elsewhere may be executed by one or more of thenetwork infrastructural elements. The methods and systems describedherein may be adapted for use with any kind of private, community, orhybrid cloud computing network or cloud computing environment, includingthose which involve features of software as a service (SaaS), platformas a service (PaaS), and/or infrastructure as a service (IaaS).

The methods, program codes, and instructions described herein andelsewhere may be implemented on a cellular network having multiplecells. The cellular network may either be frequency division multipleaccess (FDMA) network or code division multiple access (CDMA) network.The cellular network may include mobile devices, cell sites, basestations, repeaters, antennas, towers, and the like. The cell networkmay be a GSM, GPRS, 3G, EVDO, mesh, or other networks types.

The methods, program codes, and instructions described herein andelsewhere may be implemented on or through mobile devices. The mobiledevices may include navigation devices, cell phones, mobile phones,mobile personal digital assistants, laptops, palmtops, netbooks, pagers,electronic books readers, music players and the like. These devices mayinclude, apart from other components, a storage medium such as a flashmemory, buffer, RAM, ROM and one or more computing devices. Thecomputing devices associated with mobile devices may be enabled toexecute program codes, methods, and instructions stored thereon.Alternatively, the mobile devices may be configured to executeinstructions in collaboration with other devices. The mobile devices maycommunicate with base stations interfaced with servers and configured toexecute program codes. The mobile devices may communicate on apeer-to-peer network, mesh network, or other communications networks.The program code may be stored on the storage medium associated with theserver and executed by a computing device embedded within the server.The base station may include a computing device and a storage medium.The storage device may store program codes and instructions executed bythe computing devices associated with the base station.

The computer software, program codes, and/or instructions may be storedand/or accessed on machine readable media that may include: computercomponents, devices, and recording media that retain digital data usedfor computing for some interval of time; semiconductor storage known asrandom access memory (RAM); mass storage typically for more permanentstorage, such as optical discs, forms of magnetic storage like harddisks, tapes, drums, cards and other types; processor registers, cachememory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory; optical storage such asCD, DVD; removable media such as flash memory (e.g. USB sticks or keys),floppy disks, magnetic tape, paper tape, punch cards, standalone RAMdisks, Zip drives, removable mass storage, off-line, and the like; othercomputer memory such as dynamic memory, static memory, read/writestorage, mutable storage, read only, random access, sequential access,location addressable, file addressable, content addressable, networkattached storage, storage area network, bar codes, magnetic ink, and thelike.

The methods and systems described herein may transform physical and/orintangible items from one state to another. The methods and systemsdescribed herein may also transform data representing physical and/orintangible items from one state to another.

The elements described and depicted herein, including in flow charts andblock diagrams throughout the figures, imply logical boundaries betweenthe elements. However, according to software or hardware engineeringpractices, the depicted elements and the functions thereof may beimplemented on machines through computer executable media having aprocessor capable of executing program instructions stored thereon as amonolithic software structure, as standalone software modules, or asmodules that employ external routines, code, services, and so forth, orany combination of these, and all such implementations may be within thescope of the present disclosure. Examples of such machines may include,but may not be limited to, personal digital assistants, laptops,personal computers, mobile phones, other handheld computing devices,medical equipment, wired or wireless communication devices, transducers,chips, calculators, satellites, tablet PCs, electronic books, gadgets,electronic devices, devices having artificial intelligence, computingdevices, networking equipment, servers, routers, and the like.Furthermore, the elements depicted in the flowchart and block diagramsor any other logical component may be implemented on a machine capableof executing program instructions. Thus, while the foregoing drawingsand descriptions set forth functional aspects of the disclosed systems,no particular arrangement of software for implementing these functionalaspects should be inferred from these descriptions unless explicitlystated or otherwise clear from the context. Similarly, it will beappreciated that the various steps identified and described above may bevaried and that the order of steps may be adapted to particularapplications of the techniques disclosed herein. All such variations andmodifications are intended to fall within the scope of this disclosure.As such, the depiction and/or description of an order for various stepsshould not be understood to require a particular order of execution forthose steps, unless required by a particular application, or explicitlystated or otherwise clear from the context.

The methods and/or processes described above, and steps associatedtherewith, may be realized in hardware, software or any combination ofhardware and software suitable for a particular application. Thehardware may include a general-purpose computer and/or dedicatedcomputing device or specific computing device or particular aspect orcomponent of a specific computing device. The processes may be realizedin one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, embeddedmicrocontrollers, programmable digital signal processors or otherprogrammable devices, along with internal and/or external memory. Theprocesses may also, or instead, be embodied in an application specificintegrated circuit, a programmable gate array, programmable array logic,or any other device or combination of devices that may be configured toprocess electronic signals. It will further be appreciated that one ormore of the processes may be realized as a computer executable codecapable of being executed on a machine-readable medium.

The computer executable code may be created using a structuredprogramming language such as C, an object oriented programming languagesuch as C++, or any other high-level or low-level programming language(including assembly languages, hardware description languages, anddatabase programming languages and technologies) that may be stored,compiled or interpreted to run on one of the above devices, as well asheterogeneous combinations of processors, processor architectures, orcombinations of different hardware and software, or any other machinecapable of executing program instructions.

Thus, in one aspect, methods described above and combinations thereofmay be embodied in computer executable code that, when executing on oneor more computing devices, performs the steps thereof. In anotheraspect, the methods may be embodied in systems that perform the stepsthereof, and may be distributed across devices in a number of ways, orall of the functionality may be integrated into a dedicated, standalonedevice or other hardware. In another aspect, the means for performingthe steps associated with the processes described above may include anyof the hardware and/or software described above. All such permutationsand combinations are intended to fall within the scope of the presentdisclosure.

While the disclosure has been disclosed in connection with certainaspects of the present disclosure shown and described in detail, variousmodifications and improvements thereon will become readily apparent tothose skilled in the art. Accordingly, the spirit and scope of thepresent disclosure is not to be limited by the foregoing examples, butis to be understood in the broadest sense allowable by law.

The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and similar referents in thecontext of describing the disclosure (especially in the context of thefollowing claims) is to be construed to cover both the singular and theplural unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted bycontext. The terms “comprising,” “having,” “including,” and “containing”are to be construed as open-ended terms (i.e., meaning “including, butnot limited to,”) unless otherwise noted. Recitation of ranges of valuesherein is merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referringindividually to each separate value falling within the range, unlessotherwise indicated herein, and each separate value is incorporated intothe specification as if it were individually recited herein. All methodsdescribed herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwiseindicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context. The useof any and all examples, or exemplary language (e.g., “such as”)provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate the disclosure,and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the disclosure unlessotherwise claimed. No language in the specification should be construedas indicating any non-claimed element as essential to the practice ofthe disclosure.

While the foregoing written description enables one skilled in the artto make and use what is considered presently to be the best modethereof, those skilled in the art will understand and appreciate theexistence of variations, combinations, and equivalents of the specificaspects, method, and examples herein. The disclosure should thereforenot be limited by the above-described aspects, methods, and examples,but by all disclosure within the scope and spirit of the disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for one of a retailer and a brand ownerto publish at least a portion of an electronic label for view by a userthat contains additional information beyond what is on a product labelof a product associated with one of the retailer and the brand owner,the system comprising: a memory having instructions stored thereon; andat least one processor to execute the instructions to performoperations, comprising: generating a first layer of information thatincludes in combination, information from the product label andattributes determined from the information from the product label butnot listed on the product label; and generating and populating a secondlayer of information with information from the first layer ofinformation, receiving changes to the second layer of information fromone of the retailer and the brand owner associated with the populatedinformation from the first layer of information, publishing the secondlayer of information with the changes from one of the retailer and thebrand owner to the at least the portion of the electronic label,accepting changes from one of the retailer and the brand owner to thesecond layer of information, and preventing changes to the first layerof information from one of the retailer and the brand owner.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, the operations further comprising publishing thesecond layer of information with the changes from one of the retailerand the brand owner to the at least the portion of the electronic labelthat hides a portion of the information from the first layer ofinformation from view in the electronic label.
 3. The system of claim 1,the operations further comprising publishing the second layer ofinformation with the changes from one of the retailer and the brandowner to the at least the portion of the electronic label that includesadditional information relative to the information from the first layerof information.
 4. The system of claim 1, the operations furthercomprising publishing the second layer of information with the changesfrom one of the retailer and the brand owner to the at least the portionof the electronic label that hides a portion of the information from thefirst layer of information from view in the electronic label and thatinclude additional information relative to the information from thefirst layer of information.
 5. The system of claim 1, the operationsfurther comprising publishing immediately to the electronic label, thesecond layer of information at a request of one of the retailer and thebrand owner.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations furthercomprising publishing to the electronic label, the second layer ofinformation when one of the retailer and the brand owner obtains apre-determined number of approvals.
 7. The system of claim 1, theoperations further comprising generating the first layer of informationbased on multiple product labels including information common to each ofthe multiple product labels, receiving changes to the second layer ofinformation about one of the multiple product labels from one of theretailer and the brand owner, and publishing the second layer ofinformation with the changes to all of the multiple product labels basedon the changes associated with the one of the multiple product labels.8. The system of claim 1, the operations further comprising receivingthe changes to the second layer of information and tracking andmaintaining a ledger of the changes from which a previous version of thesecond layer of information is accessible.
 9. The system of claim 1wherein the at least the portion of the electronic label providesinformation related to a SmartLabel brand label.
 10. The system of claim1 wherein the electronic label is accessible from a mobile device thatis selected from a group consisting of at least one of a smartphone, ahandheld scanner, a kiosk by the consumer, a wearable, and a computer.11. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least the portion of theelectronic label displays serving size information, and wherein theserving size information is selected from a group consisting of at leastone of a reference amount customarily consumed, a user-adjustable weightper serving, one hundred grams of weight per serving, and a recommendeddaily allowance.
 12. The system of claim 1, wherein the product havingthe product label is selected from a group consisting of at least one offoods, beverages, consumer packaged goods, personal items, pet careproducts, clothing, toys for children, lawn care products, windowstickers for vehicles, heating, ventilation, air conditioning products,and bedding products.
 13. A system to harmonize at least a portion of anelectronic label for view by a user that contains additional informationbeyond what is on a product label of a product associated with one of aretailer and a brand owner, the system comprising: a memory havinginstructions stored thereon; and at least one processor to execute theinstructions to perform operations, comprising: generating a first layerof information that includes in combination, information from theproduct label and attributes determined from the information from theproduct label but not listed on the product label; and generating asecond layer of information that populates the second layer ofinformation with information from the first layer of information,receiving at least a third layer of information including informationabout the product associated with the product label, publishing thesecond layer of information in cooperation with the third layer ofinformation including a portion of the third layer information that isadditional relative to the second layer of information, and preventingchanges to the first layer of information from at least one of the user,the retailer, and the brand owner.
 14. The system of claim 13, theoperations further comprising receiving a plurality of layers ofinformation including information about the product associated with theproduct label, and publishing the second layer of information incooperation with the plurality of layers of information including aportion of the plurality of layers of information that is additionalrelative to the second layer of information and a portion of theplurality of layers of information that replaces a portion of the secondlayer of information.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein a portion ofthe plurality of layers of information replaces a portion of the secondlayer of information.
 16. The system of claim 13, wherein the thirdlayer of information is associated with information from one of a globaldata synchronization network, a digital asset management system,ingredient supply chain data, and product information management data.17. The system of claim 13 the operations further comprising generatingan additional layer of information that populates the additional layerof information with information from the third layer of information,receiving changes to the additional layer of information from one of theretailer and the brand owner associated with the populated informationfrom the third layer of information, publishing the additional layer ofinformation with the changes from one of the retailer and the brandowner to the at least the portion of the electronic label, and acceptingchanges from one of the retailer and the brand owner to the additionallayer of information and preventing changes to the third layer ofinformation from one of the retailer and the brand owner.
 18. The systemof claim 17, the operations further comprising receiving the changes tothe additional layer of information and tracking and maintaining aledger of the changes from which a previous version of the additionallayer of information is accessible.
 19. A system to harmonize andpublish at least a portion of an electronic label for view by a userthat contains additional information beyond what is on a product labelof a product associated with one of a retailer and a brand owner, thesystem comprising: a memory having instructions stored thereon; and atleast one processor to execute the instructions to perform operations,comprising: generating a first layer of information that includes incombination, information from the product label and attributesdetermined from the information from the product label but not listed onthe product label; generating a second layer of information thatpopulates the second layer of information with information from thefirst layer of information, and receiving changes to the second layer ofinformation from one of the retailer and the brand owner associated withthe populated information from the first layer of information; andreceiving at least a third layer of information including informationabout the product associated with the product label, publishing thesecond layer of information in cooperation with the third layer ofinformation including a portion of the third layer information that isadditional relative to the second layer of information and the secondlayer of information includes the changes from one of the retailer andthe brand owner to the at least the portion of the electronic label, andaccepting changes from one of the retailer and the brand owner to thesecond layer of information and preventing changes to the first layer ofinformation from one of the retailer and the brand owner.
 20. The systemof claim 19, the operations further comprising receiving a plurality oflayers of information including information about the product associatedwith the product label, and publishing the second layer of informationin cooperation with the plurality of layers of information including aportion of the plurality of layers of information that is additionalrelative to the second layer of information and a portion of theplurality of layers of information that replaces a portion of the secondlayer of information.